![\"Laois](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0024679a-614.jpg\"\/)
\nOffaly will send Kildare back down to the Joe McDonagh Cup, reckons Cusack<\/p>\n
The Leinster Championship is often a mediocre movie franchise, but this year’s sequel has an exciting ending that makes up for a lot in the short term.<\/p>\n
For years, Kilkenny have been sleepwalking to Leinster titles, but now they’ve woken up and, horror of horrors, find themselves in third place.<\/p>\n
Offaly, ghosts of summer long past, are snapping at their heels, and the Cats head to Parnell Park fighting for survival.<\/p>\n
If Dublin win, they’re in a Leinster final, but more than that, it would be a massive statement. Right now, they give a good impression of a team that is growing into the summer.<\/p>\n
Beating Kilkenny is the sort of moment that can push Dublin hurling into a different category and in a quieter spell for football in the capital.<\/p>\n
However, with greater firepower returning up front, the Cats carry a more menacing look. We hope that we’re wrong for the sake of Dublin hurling, but our sense is an ending that feels familiar.<\/p>\n
\nOffaly will send Kildare back down to the Joe McDonagh Cup, reckons Cusack<\/p>\n
In other goings-on in Leinster, there are two sad affairs to be observed. Offaly have the job of officially sending Kildare back to the Joe McDonagh wilderness.<\/p>\n
The Lilywhites have been a breath of fresh air, and in the meantime, they can take encouragement from the progress Offaly have made.<\/p>\n
Down in the sunny southeast, Galway will be putting Yellow Bellies to sleep for another year. Lee Chin is 33 now. He can’t carry a whole county and sell gas with The 2 Johnnies forever.<\/p>\n
Keith Rossiter is dealing with a serious turnover of players. Wexford will probably settle this weekend for a performance that smacks of pride and a few green shoots. Later on Sunday afternoon, the attention switches down south to Munster.<\/p>\n
Tipperary travel to Limerick playing for reputation. It’s not beyond Tipp’s abilities to pull a shock result out of the bag wherever they go, but themselves and Limerick are in very different places psychologically.<\/p>\n
Expect fireworks between Cork and Clare. Cork, though unbeaten after three games, still look like a side we haven’t seen top gear from yet.<\/p>\n
Options are tightening for Ben O’Connor through injuries, and of note overnight was the inclusion of Declan Dalton on the bench for the first time in this year’s Munster campaign.<\/p>\n
Clare, on the other hand, look born again. After the Limerick defeat, talk quickly turned to yesterday’s men. Ach, n\u00ed mar a sh\u00edltear a bh\u00edtear in hurling, and especially not in early May.<\/p>\n
John Conlon’s positioning appeared to reshape the Clare defense, and it’ll be interesting to see how Cork respond.<\/p>\n
Collectively, the Banner brought far more aggression against Tipperary, and that edge will continue. A win by four points or more sends them into a Munster final.<\/p>\n
Cork won’t quit, tied with a draw very much on the cards, we think. In the Joe McDonagh Cup, Carlow and Laois are destined for a final meeting.<\/p>\n
Before that, though, Carlow travel to Corrigan Park to face an Antrim side that appears to have settled in recent weeks. Never an easy trip north, and a good test awaits.<\/p>\n
Sin \u00e9, hurling nation.<\/p>\n
D\u00f3nal \u00d3g Cusack was speaking on Morning Ireland<\/a><\/p>\n \n Listen to the RT\u00c9 GAA Podcast on the RT\u00c9 Radio Player<\/a>, Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, or wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>, and email us at sportpodcasts@rte.ie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Leinster Championship is often a mediocre movie franchise, but this year’s sequel has an exciting ending that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-461489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}