History will be created in Croke Park on Sunday as Waterford and Limerick will meet for the first time in an Allianz National hurling League Final.
Throw in at 2pm.
The football decider between Kerry and Mayo is set to start at 4pm.
It’s the first time that both league final showdowns are being played at GAA headquarters on the same afternoon: the hurling decider between Waterford and Limerick has a 2pm throw-in, before the football decider between Kerry and Mayo is set to start at 4pm. There is no provision for a replay in either game.
Feargal McGill, the GAA’s director of games administration told the Irish Times that what is agreed for the day, if required, is two 10-minute periods of extra-time, then two periods of five minutes each, and if after that the sides are still level it will go to a penalty shootout.
Last year’s Allianz Hurling League saw those double periods of extra-time (10 minutes each half, then five) and then the result on the day outcome in the quarter-final between Limerick and Clare; it involved 100-plus minutes of actual hurling, and was then decided on a free-taking shoot-out (Colin Ryan sending over the decisive score for Limerick on the seventh ‘attempt’, after Niall Deasy had just missed the previous one for Clare). That game started at 4pm didn’t finish until just before 7pm, when all the added time was included.
The curtain raiser for Sunday is the camogie league division 1 final between Kilkenny and Galway, Croke Park, starting at 12pm, although there is no provision for extra-time in that game.
McGill also noted why the hurling final was being played first, despite some concerns of that Kerry and Mayo football supporters may have further to travel:
Some people will always make the argument, the flip side being if the football was on first, they would have to get up earlier. We have the camogie on first, and generally the hurling games are played first in the double-bill, to help ensure the pitch surface is at its best, rather than have it after football.
WLR will broadcast the game with commentary team Tomás McCarthy and Eoin Murphy thanks to George Corbett Skoda. Join us from Croke Park at 1.30pm
