Senior hurlers hoping to bounce back against Laois

Next weekend will be the most important so far in the GAA hurling All-Ireland senior championships when, as well as featuring the Leinster final, it will also bring the end of the line for four top counties in the qualifiers.

Three qualifier ties will be played on Saturday evening, followed by the fourth on Sunday as well as the Galway v Kilkenny Leinster final.

The line-up is as follows:

Saturday

All-Ireland qualifiers: Round 1

Clare v Offaly, Cusack Park, Ennis, 7.0

Laois v Dublin, O’Moore Park, Portlaoise, 7.0

Wexford v Cork, Innovate Wexford Park, 7.0

Sunday

All-Ireland qualifiers: Round 1

Westmeath v Limerick, Cusack Park, Mullingar, 2.0

Leinster SH final: Galway v Kilkenny, Croke Park , 4.0

GALWAY vs KILKENNY

They meet in the championship for the eighth time since Galway joined the Leinster championship.

Five of the previous seven meetings have been in Leinster, with two in the drawn and replayed 2012 All-Ireland championships.

Last Ten Championship Clashes

2014: Kilkenny 3-19 Galway 1-17 (Leinster semi-final replay)

2014: Kilkenny 3-22 Galway 5-16 (Leinster semi-final)

2012: Kilkenny 3-22 Galway 3-11 (All-Ireland final replay)

2012: Kilkenny 0-19 Galway 2-13 (All-Ireland final)

2012: Galway 2-21 Kilkenny 2-11 (Leinster final)

2010: Kilkenny 1-19 Galway 1-12 (Leinster final)

2009: Kilkenny 2-20 Galway 3-13 (Leinster semi-final)

2007: Kilkenny 3-22 Galway 1-18 (All-Ireland quarter-final)

2006: Kilkenny 2-22 Galway 3-14 (All-Ireland quarter-final)

2005: Galway 5-18 Kilkenny 4-18 (All-Ireland semi-final)

Kilkenny 6 Galway 2; Draws 2

Galway had three games to reach the final, drawing (1-17 to 0-20) and beating (5-19 to 1-18) Dublin and also beating Laois (3-28 to 1-14).

Their top scorers are as follows:

Joe Canning..................... 3-24 (0-13 frees, 0-3 ‘65s’)

Cathal Mannion............... 3-7

Jason Flynn..................... .0-11 (0-7 frees)

Kilkenny have had one outing so far, beating Wexford by 5-25 to 0-16.

Their top scorers are as follows:

Ger Aylward.................... 3-5

TJ Reid............................ 1-7 (1-0 penalty, 0-3 frees, 0-1 ‘65’s)

Richie Hogan................... 1-5

 Galway are bidding to win the Leinster final for the second time since moving east for championship purposes in 2009. They won in 2012 and lost the 2010 (Kilkenny) and 2013 (Dublin) finals.

 Kilkenny are bidding to win the Leinster title for the 15th time in 18 seasons. They won in 1998-99-2000-01-02-03-05-06-07-08-09-10-11-14. They missed out in 2004-12-13.

 Galway beat Kilkenny in this year’s Allianz League, winning by 0-20 to 0-18 in Pearse Stadium on March 8. Jason Flynn scored 0-11 (0-7 frees) for Galway while Richie Hogan on 0-10 (0-8 frees) was Kilkenny’s top scorer.

 Two of the last four-Galway-Kilkenny championship games have finished level (2012 All-Ireland final and the 2014 Leinster semi-final). Kilkenny won both replays.

 Kilkenny’s defeat by Galway in 2012 was their first setback in the Leinster final since losing to Wexford in 1997.

LAOIS vs DUBLIN

They last met in the championship three years ago when Dublin won a Leinster quarter-final by 22 points in Tullamore.

Last Five Championship Clashes

2012: Dublin 3-23 Laois 1-7 (Leinster quarter-final)

2010: Dublin 0-25 Laois 0-16 (Leinster quarter-final)

2005: Laois 4-14 Dublin 0-14 (Leinster quarter-final)

2003: Dublin 3-11 Laois 0-15 (Leinster preliminary round) Replay

2003: Dublin 1-18 Laois 2-15 Leinster preliminary round (Draw)

Laois 1-17 Carlow 1-14 (Leinster Round Robin)

Laois 1-20 Westmeath 1-17 (Leinster Round Robin)

Laois 0-29 Offaly 0-21 (Leinster quarter-final)

Galway 3-28 Laois 1-14 (Leinster semi-final)

Memories of the great All-Ireland final of 20 years ago will be re-lived when the counties clash in Ennis. Managers, Davy Fitzgerald (Clare) and Brian Whelahan (Offaly) were key members of those teams as Clare won by 1-13 to 2-8, taking the All-Ireland title for the first time since 1914.

Last Five Championship Clashes

2006: Clare 2-15 Offaly 1-9 (All-Ireland qualifier)

2005: Clare 1-12 Offaly 1-11 (All-Ireland qualifier)

2004: Clare 3-16 Offaly 2-10 (All-Ireland qualifier)

1998: Offaly 0-16 Clare 0-13 (All-Ireland semi-final) Replay

1998: Clare 1-16 Offaly 2-10 (All-Ireland semi-final) Replay*

*Re-fixture ordered due to time-keeping error

 Clare lost their only championship outing so far this year, going down to Limerick by 1-19 to 2-15 in the Munster quarter-final.

 Offaly lost the Leinster quarter-final to Laois by 0-29 to 0-21.

 Clare are seeking their first championship win since the 2013 All-Ireland final replay. Since then they have lost to Cork, Wexford and Limerick and also drew with Wexford in last year’s qualifiers.

WEXFORD vs CORK

They last met in the championship in 2012 when Cork won a qualifier tie by 3-24 to 2-17 in Thurles.

Last Five Championship Clashes

2012: Cork 3-24 Wexford 2-17 (All-Ireland qualifiers)

2004: Cork 1-27 Wexford 0-12 (All-Ireland semi-final)

2003 Cork 3-17 Wexford 2-7 (All-Ireland semi-final replay)

2003: Cork 2-20 Wexford 3-17 (All-Ireland semi-final)

1977: Cork 1-17 Wexford 3-8 (All-Ireland final)

 This will be Cork’s second game in the championship, having lost the Munster semi-final to Waterford by 3-19 to 1-21.

 Wexford have had two games, beating Westmeath by 1-24 to 1-16 and losing to Kilkenny in the Leinster semi-final by 5-25 to 0-16.

 Wexford are seeking their first championship win over Cork since the 1956 All-Ireland final.

 The counties met in this year’s Allianz Hurling League quarter-final when Cork won by 0-18 to 0-14 in Pairc Ui Rinn on March 29. Wexford led by 0-13 to 0-7 at half-time. A Cork revival saw them win the second half by 0-11 to 0-1

WESTMEATH vs LIMERICK

 They meet in the championship for the first time. This will be Westmeath’s fifth game in this year’s championship with results as follows:

Westmeath 2-19 Carlow 2-17 (Leinster Round Robin)

Westmeath 1-21 Antrim 0-7 (Leinster Round Robin)

Laois 1-20 Westmeath 1-17 (Leinster Round Robin)

Wexford 1-24 Westmeath 1-16 (Leinster quarter-final)

 This is Limerick’s third outing in this year’s championships having beaten Clare 1-19 to 2-15 and lost to Tipperary by 4-23 to 1-16 in the Munster campaign

2015 GAA HURLING ALL-IRELAND SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

LEINSTER

Round Robin:

Westmeath 2-19 Carlow 2-17; Antrim 5-17 Laois 3-22;

Westmeath 1-21 Antrim 0-7; Laois 1-17 Carlow 1-14;

Laois 1-20 Westmeath 1-17; Carlow 2-18 Antrim 1-11.

Quarter-finals:

May 31: Dublin 0-20 Galway 1-17, Croke Park;

June 6: Replay: Galway 5-19 Dublin 1-18, Tullamore;

June 7: Laois 0-29 Offaly 0-21, Portlaoise; Wexford 1-24 Westmeath 1-16, Mullingar.

Semi-final:

June 20: Galway 3-28 Laois 1-14, Tullamore

June 21: Kilkenny 5-25 Wexford 0-16, Nowlan Park.

Final:

July 5: Kilkenny v Galway, Croke Park

MUNSTER

First Round:

May 25: Limerick 1-19 Clare 2-15, Thurles.

Semi-finals:

June 7: Waterford 3-19 Cork 1-21, Thurles;

June 21: Tipperary 4-23 Limerick 1-16, Gaelic Grounds.

Final:

July 13. Tipperary v Waterford, Thurles

ALL-IRELAND QUALIFIERS

Round 1:

July 4: Laois v Dublin; Clare v Offaly; Wexford v Cork.

July 5: Westmeath v Limerick;

Round 2:

July 11: Four Round 1 winners play off in two games

Quarter-finals:

July 26: Round 2 winners v Leinster and Munster runners-ups

Semi-final:

August 9: Leinster championships v quarter-final winner, Croke Park

August 16: Semi-final: Munster champions v quarter-final winner.

Final

September 6: Croke Park