Today’s Previews

AIB ALL-IRELAND SHC SEMI-FINAL

(ET & winner on the day)

O’Loughlin Gaels (Kilkenny) v

Ruairí Óg, Cushendall (Antrim)

Páirc Tailteann, 1.30 (TG4)

Referee: M Kennedy (Tipperary)

PADDY DEEGAN’S tour de force from centre-back against Na Fianna was a big reason why the Kilkenny side were crowned Leinster champions when it looked like the game was getting away from them in the second half. Na Fianna did so much right but were left to rue giving the O’Loughlins playmaker such room in the final quarter in particular. Hard to believe Cushendall will make the same mistake. The Antrim side have showed such character and resilience to get to this point and will take heart from the way Dublin champions Na Fianna ran at O’Loughlins to such effect last time out. The Kilkenny side themselves have made a habit of coming through tight finishes and that know-how could be crucial again.

Verdict: O’Loughlin Gaels

AIB ALL-IRELAND IHC SEMI-FINAL

(ET & Winner on the Day)

Setanta (Donegal) v Thomastown (Kilkenny)

Pairc Esler, 2.00 (Spórt TG4) Referee: N Malone (Clare)

AIB ALL-IRELAND JHC SEMI-FINAL

(ET & Winner on the Day) Castleblayney Hurling (Monaghan) v Tullogher Rosbercon (Kilkenny)

The Downs, 1.30 (Spórt TG4)

ALL-IRELAND SENIOR CAMOGIE CLUB FINAL

Sarsfields (Galway) v Dicksboro (Kilkenny)

Croke Park 5.15 (Live on RTÉ 2, 5.0). EVERYONE knows how central family is in GAA clubs and Dicksboro will embody that in their first ever senior camogie club final this afternoon.

Opponents Sarsfields, defending two in-arow champions, famously feature the McGrath sisters, whose father manages them but the Leinster champions from Kilkenny city have their own sibling stars in three Cliffords (Jenny, Tara and Amy) and three Phelans (Niamh, Ciara and Emer).

And Dicksboro’s management team unusually features three brothers whose name is indelibly associated with the small ball Noreside.

The Carrolls (Donal, Ted and David) are sons of the late Ted Carroll, who was secretary of Kilkenny GAA’s county board in the 1990s and their sister Helen is the wellknown journalist who hosts RTÉ’s farming show ‘Ear to the Ground’.

The Carrolls also have daughters on the panel in teenagers Caoimhe and Sinead (Ted’s daughters) and Angela (Donal’s daughter).

Dicksboro’s selectors also include the Carrolls’ first cousin, former Kilkenny senior Dan O’Neill, as well as Catherine Peters (their strength and conditioning coach) and former player Emer Tynan.

Ted was the first of the Carroll brothers to get involved and he roped in Donal five years ago. ‘It happened by accident. I’d done a bit with the hurling side of the club and was on a bit of a sabbatical and had just started working with the U14 camogie team,’ manager Donal explains.‘Ted was secretary of the camogie club and they had a vacancy with the senior team. I said I’d need him to come in with me because I didn’t really know anyone on the camogie side and, through naïve luck, we managed to win the county title first time out.

‘I was reluctant to bring in a third brother this year,’ he admits. ‘But I couldn’t get anyone else and David has a background in psychology – he teaches it – which brought another dimension.’

But now they face giants of the club game in this awesome Sarsfields team. They are contesting an eighth final in seven years, chasing three in-a-row and their trademark is banging in bangers.