Senior hurlers make two changes for crucial duel with Galway

Dublin have made two changes to their starting 15 for Saturday's Leinster SHC round-robin encounter with Galway in Parnell Park (7.0).

Fergal Whitely and Darragh O'Connell come into the team from the side that lined out from the outset last time out against Carlow.

DUBLIN (SHC v Galway)

1 Alan Nolan St Brigid's
2 Paddy Smyth Clontarf
3 Eoghan O'Donnell Whitehall Colmcille
4 Cian Hendricken Naomh Mearnóg
5 Chris Crummey Lucan Sarsfields
6 Seán Moran Cuala
7 Darragh O'Connell Cuala
8 Seán Treacy Cuala
9 Tom Connolly St Vincent’s
10 Conal Keaney Ballyboden St Enda's
11 Danny Sutcliffe St Jude’s
12 Cian Boland St Oliver Plunkett's Eoghan Ruadh
13 Fergal Whitely Kilmacud Crokes
14 Ronan Hayes Kilmacud Crokes
15 Eamonn Dillon Naomh Fionnbarra

LAST FIVE CHAMPIONSHIP MEETINGS

2018: Galway 0-26 Dublin 2-19 (Leinster 'round robin')

2017: Galway 2-28 Dublin 1-17 (Leinster quarter-final)

2015: Galway 5-19 Dublin 1-18 (Leinster quarter-final) Replay

2015: Dublin 0-20 Galway 1-17 (Leinster quarter-final)

2013: Dublin 2-25 Galway 2-13 (Leinster final)

*Galway beat Dublin by 0-20 to 1-11 in this year's Allianz League in Pearse Stadium.

*Dublin's last win over Galway in the championship was in the 2013 Leinster final.

*This will be only the tenth championship match between the counties, with Dublin leading 5-3 while there was one draw in the previous nine.

**Top scorers for both counties after three rounds are as follows

Dublin: Paul Ryan 0-20 (0-12 frees, 0-1'65'); Sean Moran 2-4 (1-2 pens, 1-1 frees), Eamonn Dillon 2-3.

Galway: Cathal Mannion 0-12 (0-1 free); Jason Flynn 0-12 (0-5 frees, 0-1 '65'); Conor Whelan 1-9.

LEINSTER SHC ROUND-ROBIN LAST ROUND PERMUTATIONS

1: Wexford and Dublin win: Wexford (6 points) and Dublin (5 points) contest the Leinster SHC Final. Galway also finish on five points but lose out to Dublin on the head-to-head rule and so progress to the All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-finals.

2: Kilkenny and Galway win: Galway (7 points) and Kilkenny (6 points) contest the Leinster SHC Final. Wexford (4 points) advance to the All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-final.

3: Wexford and Galway win: Galway (7 points) and Wexford (6 points) contest the Leinster SHC Final. Kilkenny (4 points) advance to the All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-final.

4: Kilkenny and Dublin win: Kilkenny (6 points) and Dublin (5 points) contest the Leinster SHC Final. Galway also finish on five points but lose out to Dublin on the head-to-head rule and so advance to the All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-final.

5: Wexford win and Galway and Dublin draw: Wexford (6 points) and Galway (6 points) contest the Leinster SHC Final. Kilkenny and Dublin both finish on four points each but Kilkenny advance to the All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-final on the head-to-head rule.

6: Kilkenny win and Galway and Dublin draw: Kilkenny (6 points) and Galway (6 points) contest the Leinster SHC Final. Wexford and Dublin would both finish on 4 points and would be separated by scoring difference as their own match earlier in the Leinster SHC finished in a draw. Currently Wexford’s scoring advantage is +15 while Dublin’s is +7. So unless Dublin make up that eight-point scoring differential on Round 5, Wexford would advance to the All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-final.

7: Galway win and Kilkenny and Wexford draw: Galway (7 points) and Kilkenny (5 points) would contest the Leinster SHC Final. Wexford would also finish on five points but would be ranked lower than Kilkenny in the table on scoring difference and so would advance to the All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-final. Kilkenny’s scoring difference is currently +18 while Wexford’s is +15 and that would be unchanged in a draw scenario.

8: Dublin win and Kilkenny and Wexford draw: All four teams would finish level on five points each and so would be separated by scoring difference. In this scenario Galway (currently +7 scoring difference would lose out as they would definitely have the worst scoring difference of all four teams. The only question then would be whether Dublin could improve their current +7 scoring difference sufficiently to leapfrog Wexford’s +15 (which would remain unchanged by a draw with Kilkenny). So, unless Dublin beat Galway by eight points or more, Kilkenny and Wexford would contest the Leinster SHC Final and Dublin would advance to the All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-final.

9: Dublin and Galway draw & Wexford and Kilkenny draw: Galway (6 points) and Kilkenny (5 points) would contest the Leinster SHC Final. Wexford would also finish on five points but an inferior scoring difference to Kilkenny’s means they would advance to the All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-final.