All-Ireland race down to four, only brave will prevail

Our festival of hurling in the form of the All-Ireland semi-finals is coming into sharp focus.

It is a weekend that piques the interest of even the most casual GAA fan, with many football die-hards likely to keep an eye on events on 8-9 July.

If we get our applications into the credit union in time we might even be able to stay in Dublin for the night to stay up and see both semi-finals, but most would probably choose the tarmac driveway over the night away in the capital.

We're down to the final four and the more things seem to change the more they stay the same, with a rerun of last year’s pairings.

There is obviously little between the sides at this stage of the season, with potential injuries likely to have a major influence on the outcome.

With a place in the final at stake however, brave calls will be required by management to take their place in the showpiece.

"To a brave man, good and bad luck are like his left and right hand. He uses both."

I saw this quote recently and thought of it in a hurling context.

To be brave you must make mistakes, you must understand that not everything will fall into place, but still be confident in the knowing you will be successful in the end.

This applies to the managers of the final four teams in the quest to bring Liam MacCarthy home. How you say? Well let’s look at it, county by county.

First up on the Saturday is the clash of Galway and Limerick.

The brave calls made by Henry Shefflin against Tipperary paid off in the form of the match-ups and the role of Cathal Mannion.

The midfielder shut down the space on one side of the field, whilst getting on a mountain of ball himself and delivering it with enough time to have a look at the sliotar, examine the brand and what part of the world it