Dónal Óg Cusack's hurling championship predictions

It's not summer yet but thankfully there is a clearing in the dense fog of the GAA calendar and we have sight of the splendour of the hurling championship once more.

Getting us going tomorrow are the hurlers of Antrim and Dublin. When Rishi Sunak was pretending to point out the sights of Belfast to Joe Biden last week, I'll bet he missed Corrigan Park.

The Saffrons will welcome home comforts but the Dubs, under new manager Micheál Donoghue, should prevail.

Next up will be a Saturday matinee from Salthill featuring Galway and Wexford.

The current league isn't the best guide but the final table left Wexford with just one win over Westmeath.

They were shipping more than two goals a game. Darragh Egan has a lot of screws to tighten and some hatches to batten down.

Galway come to the championship, as always, with a tasty assortment of forwards to choose from and a king of forwards coaching them. That should be enough for them.

Rounding us off on Saturday night is Westmeath's trip to Nowlan Park.

On the back of the Cats' mauling by Limerick a fortnight ago, and Westmeath missing some key players, I expect there to be only one result here.

Waterford versus Limerick on Sunday is the glamour show in the schedule this weekend.

It's Munster championship. We're not saying it's a superior product, because that doesn't need saying.

Limerick were asleep at the wheel when they lost their first league match to Cork but they shook themselves back to life after that and finished by swatting Kilkenny aside in the final

Along the way, Limerick blooded some new players and rested some old ones. They have Cian Lynch's sorcery on tap again, Aaron Gillane is in from the cold and four-in-a-row is a great sauce for the hungry.

Having crashed and burned in last