Eyes on September for our hurlers

AFTER a largely subdued summer, the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship finally exploded into life on Sunday with all sorts of fireworks provided by Waterford and Kilkenny in a semi-final that will live in the memory for quite some time.
Their replay clash may continue to grab the wider hurling fraternity’s attention this week and while there’s no doubt it promises to be another match to savour in Thurles, the semi-final meeting between Galway and Tipperary should be no less dramatic at Croke Park on Sunday (throw-in 3.30 pm).
For the second successive season, Cork, Clare, Limerick and Dublin have all failed to recapture the standards that saw them challenge in recent times, and the semi-final pairings remain unchanged and it’s widely accepted that the four best teams in the country remain standing.
That’s where the similarities to last year end for Galway and Tipperary though. They’re both back at the penultimate stage under new managements and with somewhat rejigged sides and both Micheál Donoghue and Michael Ryan are set for their first taste of a high stakes, win or bust tie at the business end of the season.
Last year’s clash is the obvious starting point when looking forward to this weekend and even though Tipperary and Galway tend to throw off the shackles against each other, is it unrealistic to expect quite the same levels of high-wire drama that we saw in that enthralling 0-26 to 2-16 win for Galway?