Dónal Óg Cusack's hurling nation: All-Ireland semi-final verdicts

We're just three matches away from the final ding of the 2023 microwave hurling championship and first up on Saturday evening is Galway versus Limerick, a repeat of last year's semi-final.

When Galway play Limerick, we always say that they have the size to cope with them. But by this stage, Galway have done more than enough for us to retire that cliche.

Matching Limerick physically just gets you sitting at the table. After that it's about focus and cunning and that's a worry for Henry Shefflin.

Galway haven't shown 70-plus minutes of focus yet this season. Still, there's always hope in Galway.

Since they broke through in that famous final against Saturday's opponents in 1980, hope has kept the Tribesmen alive.

They have won three finals since then and lost ten. There's always next year. However, they know they have a chance this weekend.

They don't know if they're ruthless enough to take it though. Facing a Limerick defence where Declan Hannon and Sean Finn are marked off 'as láthair', has to be seen as an opportunity.

All the more so as in Conor Whelan, Galway have one of the most in-form forwards in the country right now.

How will Limerick cope? A lot of talk is on Dan Morrissey moving out and filling in at number six as he did earlier in the championship and league in spring.

The downside there is a full-back line without both Finn and Morrissey. Galway teams are seldom short of decent forwards and John Kiely is too cautious a man to regard Whelan as the only threat.

The challenge for Galway is similar to that facing their neighbours Clare on Sunday. Their forwards can get the ball but their wastefulness is almost sinful.

Sixteen wides against Dublin, 18 against Tipperary the last day out, 18 in last year's semi-final against