It may have taken the hurling championship about 34 minutes to heat up in Thurles last weekend, but the temperature setting is on hot now. Croke Park this Sunday will see Dublin and Galway take it up another notch when they clash in the Leinster hurling championship.

The prize for the winners will be a place in the Leinster semi-final and, most likely, a very winnable match against Offaly. In truth, Sunday’s winners will almost certainly be in the last six, with a Leinster final place to boot, most probably against Kilkenny.

The losers risk meeting Clare, Limerick, Tipperary, Cork or Waterford in the qualifiers next time out. That’s a big risk to take – Sunday’s game comes with spice attached.

Dublin must be favourites on the basis of a strong spring campaign and what looks to have been a very smooth settling in period for Ger Cunningham. The vibes from the capital have been good, Cunningham has also been blessed with luck on the injury front, something his predecessor Anthony Daly didn’t always have.

The switch of Peter Kelly to centre back and Liam Rushe to the forward has definitely added something to the Dubs, while the availability of both Shuttes has also given them a much more balanced look.

Throw in Danny Succliffe, one of the best young hurlers in the country, and it is hard to see the Tribesmen stopping them first time out.

Galway are the great conundrum of our time – and how they love hearing that. With expectations lowered, they are extremely capable of going out and destroying any team, but these last few years they have only really saved their best for Kilkenny. Their squad is somewhat depleted, being without a few Burkes, all of whom offered something from the start of matches. While the Joe Canning question remains unanswered: Where is Joe’s best position? I’d be in the full forward camp with a small, (I said small), license to roam.

Canning has struggled for two or three seasons now with injury and inconsistent form, so Joe doesn’t carry the mantle of best forward in the game anymore. That belongs to the TJ Reids, Seamus Callinans and Shane O’Donnells of the hurling world. But class is permanent and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he reemerged in Croke Park to remind us all of what he is capable of. He is, after all, only 26 years of age.

There are two Cunninghams in charge on Sunday – Galway’s Anthony will be feeling the pressure a little bit more than Ger. It is now or never for him this summer, and defeat on Sunday will see the knives out for him. That would be a little harsh on any manager after one round of the championship, but it is the way of the modern world. It has become a results-driven business this inter-county management, and watch as the airwaves and social media light up if Dublin prevail.

I think they will because of their forward power. They can score from all over the field and this year they have looked potent in front of goal. While Galway have settled on Iarla Tannion at centre back, the rest of their defence doesn’t appear to pick itself. They have struggled to contain decent forwardlines and they are meeting one this Sunday.

The Dubs are certain of one win anyway in Croke Park as their footballers will probably enjoy another stroll in the Leinster championship against Longford. It is no good patronising the underdogs here, they’ll get enough of that over the course of the afternoon, but this appears to be a mismatch, the size of the winning margin depending on whether Dublin are in the mood or not. This team usually are.

That’s the 4pm game and hopefully the hurlers will feed off some of the football support who might tear themselves away from the pub and get in early to see the hurling curtain raiser because it will be the only competitive contest on show.

Elsewhere and somewhat unnoticed, Tipperary should comfortably see off Waterford in Thurles on Sunday afternoon, thus, earning the dubious privilege of being patronised against Kerry in the Munster football semi-final.

Tipp are making strides in underage football, having reached an U-21 final this year and won a minor championship, so they certainly have enough for the Deise, but the Kingdom will remain beyond them for a few more years yet. Up north, Fermanagh and Antrim meet in Brewster Park and the home side are the pick here, based on their recent seasons of Division 3 football.

Football wise, it’s a quietish weekend – the pressure is on Galway and Dublin to provide the hurling fireworks. I’ve a strong feeling they won’t let us down. CL

RUGBY

All of a sudden this weekend’s Pro-12 final between Munster and Glasgow is Paul O’Connell’s last game in a Munster jersey. When did that happen?

It came from the Irish captain’s own lips last Saturday when he let slip that their semi-final win over Ospreys was probably his last appearance for Munster in Thomond Park. That caught a few on the hop and since then it has not been actively denied, suggesting that a move to Toulon, or his pension plan, as Brian O’Driscoll described it, is on the cards.

This would make Saturday more important than it already is and hopefully give Munster the spark they have been lacking. Their bogey team Glasgow in Kingspan (Ravenhill) is a tall order, but the province can always be relied upon to dig deep when there is emotion involved and O’Connell’s last match is all of that. The Pro-12 final is a rarity for Munster who have lost eight of the last 10 semi-finals they have qualified for in this competition. There is no getting away from the fact that the Irish provinces tend to switch off once European Cup involvement is concluded, and Ulster’s strange decision to rest so many starters when there was a home semi-final still to play for two weeks ago against Glasgow proves that.

Conor Murray is an injury doubt for this and his potential absence robs Munster of their chief playmaker. Without him they will struggle to get over the line, even if most of the support is on their side. Glasgow are no mugs, they will fancy this and so the game should be close. In such circumstances cometh the last hour of Paul, surely cometh Munster.