ALL-IRELAND SHC SEMI-FINAL: IN A tale of two brothers. Limerick hurling manager Justin McCarthy has brought Ollie Moran back at centre forward for Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final against Munster champions Tipperary at Croke Park – but there is no place for younger sibling Niall.
Normally a vital contributor from frees, Niall Moran has supposedly recovered from a broken index finger sustained against Wexford in the qualifiers five weeks ago and is named amongst the substitutes, with sources in the county expecting him to feature at some stage.
The return of Ollie Moran – who did come in against Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-final on July 26th, though he looked some way off his best – means Wayne McNamara is dropped. As a result, David Breen moves to corner forward.
Another change sees long-range free-taker Gavin O’Mahony switched from defence to midfield, while Andrew O’Shaughnessy will be charged with striking placed balls closer to goal. O’Mahony switches with Séamus Hickey.
The other concern was corner back Damien Reale, due to a bout of influenza, but he will feature in an experienced defence captained by Mark Foley at left half back.
Tipperary manager Liam Sheedy has made just one change from the Munster final victory over Waterford, but it has led to a complete reshuffling of the defence.
Brendan Maher comes into the team at wing back in place of corner back Conor O’Brien, allowing Pádraic Maher to be switched to his more natural role of full back with Paul Curran switching to the corner in place of O’Brien.
Brendan Maher is also believed to be more suited to the wing and saw off a challenge from Shane Maher for the position.
Tipperary will be looking to Eoin Kelly to catch fire after a season dominated by injury.
Despite this, Kelly has registered 1-11 (with nine coming from frees), but their leading scorer is Larry Corbett with 3-6. Noel McGrath has also produced a decent return of 0-13 from three games, 10 points coming from play.
There may be some criticisms about the performances of Limerick corner forward O’Shaughnessy but he tops their scoring charts with 1-19, (17 from frees).
This will be the first meeting of Limerick and Tipperary in an All-Ireland semi-final, but it is their 10th championship collision since 2000.
That includes the three-match series in 2007 when Limerick, managed by Richie Bennis, eventually prevailed after extra-time in the second replay, only to lose the provincial final to Waterford.
Otherwise, Tipperary are the dominant team with five victories and three draws in total. The last meeting was in April with Tipperary running out comfortable 1-17 to 1-11 victors in Thurles.
Form certainly points to a comfortable Tipperary victory, especially considering they appear to be still hurting after the surprise defeat at this stage last season to Waterford, but Limerick have not lost an All-Ireland semi-final since 1981, while Tipperary have faltered on their last three appearances at this stage.
Also, Limerick have never lost a championship match to Munster opposition in Croke Park, but this statistic is offset by Justin McCarthy never managing a team to an All-Ireland semi-final victory in six attempts.
GALWAY(MHC v Waterford): F Flannery; J Coen, D Burke, C Burke; J Brehony, D Fox, J Cooney; J Regan, D Glennon; B Flaherty, N Burke, J Grealish; R Cummins, R Badger, S Moloney
WATERFORD(MHC v Galway): S O'Keeffe; L Egan, T Costello, M Wyse; J Dee, Philip Mahony, D Fives; F Murray, M O'Neill; Paudie Mahony, B O'Halloran, R Cahill; P Prendergast, J Dillon, I Galey.
