With temperatures on Sunday expected to reach 27 degrees, we’re looking at Kilkenny and Galway’s route to the replay in the Leinster senior hurling championship.
After last Sunday’s 18-point draw in a thrilling encounter in Croke Park, the scene switches to Semple Stadium for the first Leinster final ever played outside the province.
It will also be the first replayed final in 25 years – Kilkenny beat Wexford back in 1993. Prior to that, there had been no replaced finals since 1972, again Kilkenny beating Wexford.
As replays go, this will be the third between Kilkenny and Galway, going back to 2012 with the Cats winning the last two. They came out on top in the 2012 All-Ireland final replay by 3-22 to 3-11 and again in the 2014 Leinster quarter-final replay by 3-19 to 1-17.
If you’re going by the numbers, is history on Kilkenny’s side this Sunday?
Route to the Replay: Galway
- Galway 5-18, Offaly 2-15
- Galway 1-22, Kilkenny 2-11
- Galway 1-23, Wexford 0-17
- Galway 0-26, Dublin 2-19
- Galway 0-18, Kilkenny 0-18
Joe Canning is the Tribesmen’s top scorer, bagging 1-38 (0-25 frees, 0-3 65s, 0-2 sidelines) in the championship to date with Jason Flynn (1-13), Conor Whelan (2-8) and Joe Cooney (1-10) in great scoring form.
Route to the Replay: Kilkenny
- Kilkenny 1-24, Dublin 3-16
- Kilkenny 2-19, Offaly 1-13
- Galway 1-22, Kilkenny 2-11
- Kilkenny 0-22, Wexford 1-18
- Kilkenny 0-18, Galway 0-18
TJ Reid leads the way for the Cats scoring this Championship with a personal haul of 2-47 (0-38 frees, 0-4 65s) with Liam Blanchfied (2-2), Eoin Murphy (0-7) and Walter Walsh (1-4) among Kilkenny’s top contributors.
Sunday’s clash with Galway will be the sixth Leinster final between the two counties, with Kilkenny taking four of the previous five to Galway’s one.
Interestingly enough, neither side has scored a goal in their last two games. It was 0-18 each between them last Sunday, while in the final series of the round robin stages, Galway beat Dublin 0-26 to 2-19 with Kilkenny beating Wexford 0-22 to 1-18.
One of the biggest statistics is that Kilkenny have been in 18 Leinster finals over the last 20 years, winning 16, losing one (to Galway in 2012), and drawing one (to Galway in 2018). The Cats missed out on the finals in 2004, 2013 and 2017.
All roads lead to Semple Stadium on Sunday afternoon and we’ll have live coverage of Kilkenny and Galway at 3pm with thanks to Laharts Volkswagen Kilkenny.