PREVIEWS: Great contempt through rivalry for senior semi-finalists as relegation also heats up

Four teams who have more than their fair share of recent history will be the piéce de résistance of what promises to be a memorable semi-final weekend across the four grades of Tipperary hurling.

Outside of the race for Dan Breen, there are also huge clashes in the battle to avoid the perilous drop through the trapdoor from senior this weekend, with four teams with so much talent and recent success facing off in what is a very competitive relegation shake-up.

With so much at stake, here’s a preview of the possible outcomes, along with how the teams are shaping up heading into this weekend’s senior clashes in FBD Semple Stadium.

FBD Insurance Senior Hurling Championship semi-finals

Thurles Sarsfields V Loughmore Castleiney

What a game we have in store on Saturday night. Such is the intrigue and fanfare for this clash that TG4 are rolling into Thurles to cover this game, and it can be safely assumed that this will be a lot closer than the Irish language channel’s last offering of Tipperary club hurling.

Thurles Sarsfields are the team in form with the weekend approaching, as they completely outclassed Drom & Inch in that quarter-final clash a few weeks ago.

They have close to a full deck to choose from going into the game with Seanie Butler the only minor concern after picking up a slight knock in the last eight clash.

Lougmore Castleiney have had mixed form and it is fair to say that it hasn’t been vintage from the dual club so far this year, as they were put to the pin of their collar by a strong Roscrea effort recently, but still managed to find their way to victory, as they so often have over the years.

Noel McGrath is the major concern as he featured against Roscrea but was clearly not at full tilt, and the fact that he didn’t feature in the football quarter-final last weekend means that he will be touch and go to be at his brilliant best. He will definitely feature but it will be interesting to see in what function.

These sides last met in the county final back in 2021 and it was Loughmore who edged that tie after a replay, and there is a strong possibility that it may require more than 60 minutes to get a result from this tie.

Ronan Maher’s presence at the heart of the Sars’ defence is key to everything they do, and Loughmore will know that they will have to come up with a way to negate his influence.

John McGrath is Loughmore’s key figure and it might be that he could feature at centre forward early to try and take up the attention of his Tipperary teammate and find joy through that avenue.

Ciaran Connolly has been a big plus for Loughmore and played well against Roscrea and may be a good match-up for an in-form Stephen Cahill, but they are a team badly missing Joey Hennessy and John Meagher and are conceding way too much to sustain a challenge.

Brian McGrath to his credit, has been in fine form all year but the holes in the defensive structure have been a constant throughout the campaign and it will need to be addressed ahead of the match.

You get the feeling that Loughmore will need to drag Sarsfields into a battle and with wet conditions expected on Saturday, it might suit them.

Their forwards will need to do real damage to have a chance of winning this game, and they have the capabilities in fairness, but should Ronan Maher get on top and start dictating terms, it could be a tough ask. Sarsfields’ forwards are on form and with Paddy Creedon likely to be another option earlier after recent disciplinary issues, that could make for a fatal mix for Loughmore on Saturday.

Verdict: Thurles Sarsfields

Kiladangan V Toomevara

Like the other semi-final, these north rivals are more than familiar with one another and have had so many attritional battles over the past few years.

However, unlike the Mid rivalry in the other clash, this one has been decidedly more one-sided as Kiladangan have had the Greyhounds number in a big way over the last decade.

Most recently, the Puckane club have beaten their Toome rivals in two quarter-finals in 2019 and 2020, while they have beaten them numerous times in the north championship too, with the most recent result coming last year in the semi-final stage, while they also came out on top in this year’s county league decider in FBD Semple Stadium.

Toome’s last championship win over their rivals came way back in 2011 and it highlights the extent to which Kiladangan have come to dominate the fixture in recent times, and that suggests they will rightly be favourites here.

In fairness to Toome though they have had a good year to date with a full house of wins in the group along with an extra-time thriller in the quarter-final victory over Clonoulty Rossmore, and there are signals that they are a team coming to the boil, although many feel they are ahead of schedule considering how young the team is now.

Darragh McCarthy has been a huge addition and has taken the load off Mark McCarthy and Jack Delaney in the scoring stakes, and they will all need to be on fire to pull off a result here.

Team captain Jake Ryan is a major injury concern after suffering an ankle injury against Clonoulty and he would be a big loss at the back for the Greyhounds.

Kiladangan have been underachievers on the county stage in the last few years and they will be eager to strike while they have this generational group at full tilt, and with Billy Seymour and Sean Hayes in form, it should be enough for them.

Verdict: Kiladangan

Click the >arrow> or 'Next' buttons to see the relegation semi-final previews.