Aul lads get the axe as Cork and Tipp gear up for Munster mash-up

Whoever says that hurling is a young man’s game will have plenty of evidence to back up the theory when looking at the Cork and Tipperary teams named for this weekend.

There will certainly be an awful lot of experience on both benches for Sunday’s eagerly anticipated encounter, with Sean Óg Ó hAilpín and John Gardiner warming the pine for the Rebels and Eoin Kelly and Lar Corbett kept in reserve for the Premier County.

Jimmy Barry Murphy and Declan Ryan have both made significant changes to their starting line-ups from their previous encounters, with the introduction of youngster Darren Sweetnam among six changes in the Cork side and Shane McGrath returning for Tipp in three changes made to the first XV from the victory over Limerick last time out.

Cork take on Tipp in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday at 4pm

Cork team to play Tipperary: A Nash; S O’Neill, B Murphy, C O’Sullivan; T Kenny, E Cadogan, W Egan; D Sweetnam, L McLoughlin; C Lehane, P Cronin, C Naughton; J Coughlan, P O’Sullivan, P Horgan.

Tipperary team to play Cork: B Cummins; C O’Brien, P Curran, M Cahill; Stapleton, C O’Mahony, Pádraic Maher; B Maher, S McGrath; G Ryan, Patrick Maher, P Bourke; B O’Meara, J O’Brien, N McGrath.

If Cork v Tipp is the big one this weekend, then the Leinster semi-final meeting of Dublin and Kilkenny isn’t far behind.

Having proved himself fit, King Henry Shefflin will continue his remarkable record of starting every championship game under Brian Cody, a phenomenal record which dates back to 1999.

Richie Power returns at full forward for the Cats, while Cillian Buckley, who missed the Kilkenny under-21’s victory over Wexford in midweek is named at midfield. Anthony Daly has made only one change to the Dublin side which steamrolled Laois last time out, with the temperamental Tipperary native Ryan O’Dwyer coming in at full forward instead of David Treacy.

The Cats take on the Dubs on Saturday at 5pm in Portlaoise.

Dublin team to play Kilkenny: Gary Maguire; Niall Corcoran, Peter Kelly, Tomás Brady; Stephen Hiney, Joseph Boland, Michael Carton; John McCaffrey (Captain), Shane Durkin; Conal Keaney, Danny Sutcliffe, Liam Rushe; Paul Ryan, Ryan O’Dwyer, Conor McCormack.

Kilkenny team to play Dublin: David Herity; Paul Murphy, JJ Delaney, Jackie Tyrrell; Tommy Walsh, Brian Hogan, Richie Doyle; Cillian Buckley, Paddy Hogan; Henry Shefflin, TJ Reid, Eoin Larkin; Colin Fennelly, Richie Power, Richie Hogan.

In case you’ve been blinded by the two huge hurling encounters taking place, there is plenty of other GAA action this weekend, with Down taking on Monaghan in the Ulster football semi-final, Limerick taking on Laois and Wexford going head to head with Westmeath in the hurling qualifiers and Mayo opening the defence of their Connacht title against Leitrim in Castlebar. Check out the teams that have so far been named for those encounters below.

Monaghan team to play Down: M Keogh; D Wylie, V Corey, C Walshe; D Hughes, D Mone, K O'Connell; O Lennon, D Clerkin; P Dooney, S Gollogly, J Turley; K Hughes, P Finlay, C McManus.

Down team to play Monaghan: B McVeigh; D McCartan, B McArdle, G McCartan; D O’Hagan, K McKernan, C Garvey; A Rogers, K King; D Hughes, M Poland, A Carr; D O’Hare, C Laverty, C Maginn.

Wexford team to play Westmeath: Éanna Martin; Willie Deveraux, Keith Rossiter, Stephen Murphy; David Redmond, Matthew O'Hanlon, Ciaran Kenny; Shaun Murphy, Diarmuid Lyng; Gareth Sinnott, Eoin Quigley, PJ Nolan; Rory Jacob, Jack Guiney, Paul Morris.

Westmeath team to play Wexford: S McGovern; C Jordan, A Price, P Fennell; P Dowdall, A McGrath, P Greville; A Clarke, J Clarke; B Murtagh, F Boyle, R Greville; N O'Brien, J Shaw, E Price.

Limerick team to play Laois: N Quaid; S Walsh, R McCarthy, T Condon; W McNamara, D O’Grady, G O’Mahony; J Ryan, P Browne; S Dowling, B Geary, D Breen; G Mulcahy, N Moran, S Tobin.

Mayo team to play Leitrim: David Clarke, Kevin Keane, Ger Cafferkey, Keith Higgins, Lee Keegan, Donal Vaughan, Colm Boyle, Barry Moran, Danny Geraghty, Kevin McLoughlin, Cillian O'Connor, Alan Dillon, Alan Freeman, Andy Moran, Jason Doherty.

Leitrim team to play Mayo: Cathal McCrann, Daniel Beck, Fabian McMorrow, Paddy Maguire, Colm Clarke, Enda Williams, Wayne McKeon, Darren Sweeney, Shane Moran, Paul Brennan, Emlyn Mulligan, Paddy McGowan, Ray Cox, James Glancy, Adrian Croal.