It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday, so let’s take a look at the headlines of the day coming from the KCLR sports desk.
We’ll kick off with Gaelic games and the big games of the weekend where we’ve got four live hurling fixtures for you on air and online.
Tomorrow lunchtime we’ll be in UPMC Nowlan Park for both JJ Kavanagh & Sons Kilkenny junior hurling championship semi-finals as Windgap take on St. Lachtains of Freshford while Tullogher Rosbercon can look forward to a clash with city club Dicksboro. Those games are brought to you with thanks to Pat Foley Transport and Bounce Land Inflatable Hire respectively.
On Sunday, it’s back to UPMC Nowlan Park and we’re rolling out the big guns for the St. Canice’s Credit Union Kilkenny senior hurling championship semi-finals. The lunchtime game sees Bennettsbridge take on O’Loughlin Gaels with ‘Bridge manager Tim Dooley yesterday telling us his side were “mad to go” against O’Loughlin’s, coverage there with thanks to Eugene Foley Construction.
That game is followed by the fifth Championship meeting in as many seasons for James Stephens and Ballyhale Shamrocks in a repeat of the 2022 senior county final.
We caught up with Shamrocks manager Pat Hoban this week and he was quizzed on his players finding form. Much like another big game that we’ll have our eyes on this weekend, he suggests it’s mind over matter and being laser-focused in preparation. You can hear Pat’s full interview on Scoreline tomorrow but we’ll bring you some details on Scoreline.ie this morning.
We’ve been polling people online about the final – some saying the city clubs haven’t a chance, others fancying a mix that sees the Village and Bennettsbridge going back to Nowlan Park. Have your say on X (alas poor Twitter, we knew ye well)
If you’re looking for a night out down the Piltown direction, their three clubs between hurling, camogie and football are holding a dinner dance on Saturday, November 11th and they’ll be honouring the 2003 Kilkenny and Leinster junior hurling champions on the night. You’ll find more details on the Piltown GAA socials.
Camogie’s proving ground?
In camogie, a busy weekend for the club championships in Kilkenny starts tonight with two games in the Kilkenny River Court Hotel Junior C League and Championship. On the league front, there’s a place in the final up for grabs between Erin’s Own and James Stephens. They’ll meet at 8pm in Ballyragget while at 8.15pm it’s the turn of Piltown and Young Irelands in the first round of the knockouts, that game going ahead in Piltown.
With four senior and intermediate clubs left standing it seems right that new Kilkenny senior camogie manager Peter Chap Cleere will have a busy weekend ahead. He’s been telling our Camán Caint podcast this week that this time for the club championships provides the ideal window for players to put their hand up for inter-county selection next year. You can listen to that full interview below.
Basketball Latest
There’s a local derby on the basketball front this weekend as Marble City Hawks make the short hop up the road to take on SETU Carlow with both sides looking for their first win of the season in the MissQuote.ie National League. Tip-off in The Barrow Centre is at 12.30pm on Sunday with the game also being streamed online via Basketball Ireland.
Last call
It’s do or die for the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2024 dreams tonight – though I think they ended a few months ago – with Greece in town for a clash at the Aviva Stadium. We need a miracle, we’ll find out if we get closer to 7.45pm. The Ireland Under 21s are also out today, they take on Latvia at 1pm.
It’s also Captains Run day at the Stade de France as Ireland and New Zealand put the finishing touches on their Rugby World Cup quarter-final preparations. That one goes off at 8pm tomorrow night.
And finally, if you’ve been waiting to get your nomination in for the September round of the David Buggy Motors Kilkenny Sport Star Award, today’s a good day to do it.
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