Preview: High class affair between familiar rivals expected for Clare v Kilkenny clash

Clare are set to go head to head once more with Kilkenny in this Saturday's Allianz National Hurling League Final in Semple Stadium.

It will be a repeat of their round-robin meeting at Cusack Park, from which the Banner County emerged victorious on a 0-19 to 0-16 scoreline.

The two counties have also met in the last two All-Ireland senior championship semi-finals; this will be the sixth meeting in a league final between the sides.

Kilkenny lead that head to head 3-2 with wins in 1976, 1995 and 2005. Their losses came in successive seasons back in 1977 and 1978.

The most recent meeting in 2005 has a relevant link to the current Kilkenny crop as the team was captained by Peter Barry, who is now a selector. He was also man of the match in a game where DJ Carey, Eoin Larkin and Henry Shefflin got the goals.

Brian Cody’s men ran out 3-20 to 0-15 winners on an occasion where they won a third title in four seasons and a 12th crown in total.

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The Noresiders have since added seven more league titles including that shared success with Galway while Clare’s only win since then arrived against Waterford in 2016.

The league has probably lessened in importance as the years have gone on - the championship round-robin in Leinster and Munster is probably a big factor in that - but Saturday’s decider in Thurles should still be a decent game.

Both teams will have two weeks from this Sunday until their championship opener but it’s fair to say that Clare will have had the date of April 21 circled in their calendar from the minute the schedule was revealed as they host All-Ireland champions Limerick in Ennis for a game that will give us plenty of clues as to how the season will unfold in Munster.

On that same afternoon Kilkenny entertain an Antrim side that have welcomed back a few faces in recent weeks and while the Saffron County are sure to put up a good showing, recent history suggests that it will be a big shock if Kilkenny don’t win the game.

The win over All-Ireland champions Limerick certainly came with a few asterisks in the aftermath, but Kilkenny can only take care of their own house and they done that excellently with the likes of TJ Reid, Adrian Mullen, John Donnelly and Huw Lawlor all performing, the result went in the Noresiders favour.

Despite later getting sent off, former Young Hurler of the Year Eoin Cody looked back to his best as he tormented the Limerick defence. Along with the new trio of Shane Murphy, Jordan Molloy and Luke Hogan really making their mark in the starting team, there’s been a lot of positives in the last few weeks for Derek Lyng.

TJ Reid’s availability at such an early point of the season has also been a benefit but it hasn’t been all positive news either as Kilkenny look likely to be without a number of players due to injury on Saturday evening.

All those factors give you an idea as to where Kilkenny stand ahead of travelling to Thurles and although Derek Lyng has regularly mentioned about being set for the championship, a league win would definitely be welcomed with open arms.

Kilkenny will have to play very well though to achieve that accolade as Clare have probably been the most impressive and consistent team throughout the Division One campaign.

The Banner County will view this as a perfect time to lay down a serious marker and those All-Ireland semi-final losses to the Cats in each of the last two seasons are bound to motivate them to try and get one over Derek Lyng’s side.

It’s worth remembering that Clare beat Limerick in last year’s championship and have pushed the Treaty County to the brink in the 2022 and 2023 Munster hurling finals. They’ve managed to reach this league final without the likes of Tony Kelly, Shane O’Donnell, David McInerney and Ryan Taylor.

If there was a player of the year award for league displays, David Fitzgerald would be very high on the shortlist and he was again hugely destructive in his midfield role when beating Tipperary in Portlaoise.

There was a lot of talk afterwards about Tipperary’s display but Clare really forced them onto the backfoot with not only the experienced core of Fitzgerald, John Conlon, Diarmaid Ryan, Conor Cleary and Peter Duggan showing well but, like Kilkenny, they have a new group of younger players coming through.

If the league’s football equivalent is a reliable barometer then hopefully this clash follows Dublin and Derry’s example last week and we get a real pre-championship treat.