THE weather promised for the weekend isn’t great. Here in Munster we’re expecting a cold snap, but have no fear, the club championship games will still see temperatures rise in a number of GAA grounds regardless of what the barometer says.

The Munster Senior Club Hurling Championship final between hot favourites Na Piarsaigh of Limerick and Waterford’s Ballygunner will be top of TG4’s Sunday bill and that’s where most of the supporters will be watching, in front of the fire, for it’s really only the diehards that travel for games like these.

A quick scan of recent history in the club championship shows that these two feature prominently, although with very differing records. Ballygunner’s sole success in Munster was back in 2001, a team featuring stalwarts like current manager Fergal Hartley and Paul Flynn – they have also lost six finals. The most recent of those being two years ago to, you guessed it, Na Piarsaigh.

The Limerick side probably have a unique claim to fame in the Munster club championship, namely the fact that they have never lost a match in the competition. For a club that didn’t win their first Limerick senior championship until 2011 this is quite remarkable.

Since that maiden success they have repeated in Limerick in 2013, 2015 and this year. They have been provincial champions in all of those years, winning 10 games in a row in Munster. They are odds on to make it four titles in seven years, but surely a well rested Ballygunner will have something to say.

Well rested this time of the year means that Ballygunner had last weekend off for the first time since September. For the likes of Pauric and Philip Mahony, Shane O’Sullivan, Wayne Hutchinson and Barry Coughlan this campaign comes at the end of an inter-county season that lasted to the very end.

The honour of winning a provincial club title is everything, but somewhere at the back of some players’ minds must be the carrot that comes with being able perhaps to avoid the inter-county slog of January and February to stay with your club in search of All-Ireland glory!

Na Piarsaigh are worthy favourites on the back of their recent pedigree and the maturing of some younger players who did not play key roles in 2011 and 2013. Like Ballygunner, they have plenty of inter-county experience in their midst, including some young guns who will be vital to Limerick in the coming years.

Ronan Lynch looks like he will be a fixture in the green jersey, Peter Casey and David Dempsey are another two.

A big blow to the Limerick men is that their talismanic forward Shane Dowling is out through injury. His absence tightens this tie considerably, as a player of his strength and stickwork was always invaluable at this time of the year. Lynch has taken on the mantle of the freetaking and his mettle will surely be tested on Sunday.

Ballygunner’s path to the final was the toughest one and that too will count for something. Thurles Sarsfields and Sixmilebridge were both beaten by the bare minimum, but beaten they were. Those wins showed that this side has the stomach for battle and in late November, that’s worth a few points. We shouldn’t forget that there is little change in personnel in both squads from two years ago when Na Piarsaigh won by seven points.

So the underdogs can bring a lot to the home of hurling. But will it be enough?

The Limerick champions still get the vote, but only after being asked some serious questions. Luckily they have lights in Thurles because we could need them for extra time!

While there are more counties in Leinster than any other province, all of their inter-county sides were out of the Liam McCarthy hunt by late-July, yet Sunday only sees their provincial semi-finals being contested.

It looks like Cuala are champions elect after their convincing win over Kilkenny champions Dicksboro and they have home advantage again in Parnell Park when Wexford champions St Martins come to town.

Any Wexford team who are underdogs are always a tough proposition, and remember, Martins’ county final win over Oulart was a convincing one. The same Oulart side won a Leinster club title in 2015, beating who in the final? Cuala. Funny how the same names keep cropping up!

Cuala to win but again maybe not as easily as the bookies would have us believe.

To prove the point about recurring sides, the other semi-final pits the provincial winners of 2012 Kilcormac Kiloughey of Offaly against 2013 champions Mount Leinster Rangers of Carlow. That recent tradition means neither can be discounted, but the Offaly side look likely to get a crack at Cuala in two weeks time.

Boston showpiece

There will be more hurling played this weekend, including two outings for the All-Ireland champions Galway, in Boston in the Fenway challenge. It was just two short years ago when the Tribesmen and Dublin gave the American supporters a taste of what hurling used to be like, with various skirmishes breaking out in their so called ‘friendly encounter’. We heard the usual rumblings about suspensions, both county boards were fined and told to behave etc., but clearly the Yanks liked what they saw because they have both been invited back. The two clash again on Sunday and if they don’t deliver a row of some sort, they won’t be asked back!

Clare and Tipperary join them for the ‘Super 11’ format and like the Compromise Rules, there are some changes we could think about bringing back home, one of them being the handpass limit of one. In the Super 11 game you can give one handpass, but must strike with the stick after that.

Compromise Rules

I watched the Compromise Rules last Sunday morning and found that game a lot more entertaining than most of the football we saw during the summer months.

There is a defined tackle, a restriction on hand passing (to six in a row) and a mark rule that encourages players to seek out space to receive a kicked pass. I’ll be up early to watch the next instalment on Saturday morning. There is a lot to recommend it.

Luckily for spectators who do travel to the matches, it is played in glorious sunshine too!