The high-octane summer continues and this weekend we have the hurlers of Galway and Kilkenny going at it in Tullamore for the right to play Dublin in a Leinster final. In football, Donegal are out against Antrim in Ulster, Galway take on Sligo in Connacht, while the mighty Cork and Kerry make their Munster football bows in what should be easy wins. On Saturday we have the first round of the football qualifiers to boot. Sounds like a busy Sunday Game as per usual.

The highlight of the weekend could be the Cats and the Tribesmen renewing what is turning out to be quite the rivalry. Or it mightn’t. Judging on Galway’s performance against Laois, when they were almost caught at the finish, they are overmatched here. The form of that weekend would suggest that they are, but I have a sneaking feeling that this is the game Galway need. And want.

Galway hurling these days is like a box of chocolates because you never know what you are going to get. Two summers ago they produced one of the most devastating 70 minutes to blow Kilkenny away in a Leinster final. Two months later they lost to the same opposition in an All-Ireland final replay and they haven’t been seen since.

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A year ago Galway got the life frightened out of them by Laois, were rolled over by Dublin and then tamely fell to Clare in a quarter-final in Thurles. The team looks nothing like the one that reached heights two years ago. As is Galway’s wont, players were discarded, recalled and dispensed with again. Nobody does turnover like the Tribesmen.

Facing them are the most known quantity to ever take to the hurling field. Brian Cody has made the odd adjustment with his usual two or three additions, but with the other 12 players you know exactly what you will get.

Whither Kilkenny? I suspect this is Cody’s last year and only because of what happened last year. Not much has been made of the fact that the iconic bainisteoir was missing for the national league in 2013 and this saw the Cats go into championship 2013 a little undercooked.

Whether by design or misfortune, they were struggling very quickly and ran out of petrol in July. Sunday is their first big test since that early exit last July. Win, and they should, and then it’s Dublin, a Leinster final and a place in the last six. Lose, and they could, and it’ll be Tipp or Clare in the qualifiers and another August and September without having to worry about hurling.

The margins are beginning to get a little fine in Kilkenny and this game has crossroads written all over it for them. They should win. They have the proven performers, they have the form and they have had a full six months with Cody back at the helm.

They also have an entirely new half-back line from last year – gone are Kieran Joyce, Brian Hogan and Tommy Walsh; in come Cillian Buckley, Jackie Tyrell and Tommy’s bother, Padraig. That’s fairly major surgery for Brian Cody and an admission that the fault lines were there. A fit Jackie Tyrell shores up the centre and his two amigos on the wings have the pace needed to cover if his legs are unduly tested.

The forward line is physically imposing and, even without Henry, it looks highly effective. Two Fennellys, Eoin Larkin, Walter Walsh, TJ Reid and goal-prone newcomer Mark Kelly at full-forward would scare most opposing managers.

If there is hope for Galway, scant as it is, Kilkenny have looked one dimensional in recent times, possibly lacking the pace a killer forward line needs. Having said that, if any team can do without it, this crowd can. The head says it can only be the Cats. But we can’t be certain because it’s Galway and no county has caught Kilkenny on the hop more often than them. From the revolutionary two-man full-forward line of Thurles in 1986 to the ambushes of 2001, 2005 and 2012, unheralded Galway sides have excelled at the sight of black and amber.

However, we can write off the chances of the underdogs if Joe Canning doesn’t play a meaningful, nay pivotal part in this game. He has not looked like the player he was supposed to be for a good two years and where to play him has overtaken the weather in Galway as the hottest topic of conversation. It doesn’t matter where Joe plays if he isn’t tuned in – and Anthony Cunningham needs a focused Canning or it’s the qualifiers for them. That’s the most likely outcome.

Football action

Kerry and Cork should breeze through their provincial football semi-finals, emphasising the gulf in Munster football and putting a pin to the weaker counties’ open-draw wishes. It would be wonderful if one of them got the fright of their lives and maybe, just maybe, that could happen in Ennis where Clare have home advantage and a weakened Kingdom come to visit. We say weakened but in truth is there such a Kerry senior team? Hardly.

Galway and Sligo will be another Connacht classic, probably poor in quality but tight enough on the scoreboard. Galway to have one win this weekend for sure. Donegal will be too clinical for Antrim.

Elsewhere the qualifiers should produce wins for Derry, Wicklow, Laois and Limerick. These games represent the first knockout matches of the year so four counties bow out of the football championship this weekend – expect extra time in at least one of these matches.