Hurling nation: Familiar provincial finalists set to emerge on last big weekend of the summer

We play the last round of provincial championship games and what a weekend of action ahead. Five matches: two in Munster and three in Leinster.

There are so many permutations that we'd need an hour to list to them.

Predicting results in Leinster this season is foolhardy and both the Kilkenny-Dublin and Galway-Wexford games have a proper winner-takes-all/semi-final feel to them.

In Nowlan Park, Kilkenny won’t need reminding that Wexford have beaten them for the last two years. A point divides the sides at the top of the table.

Galway have seemed stagnant this summer, and their native son, Dubs manager Micheál Donoghue will know their number. Having said that, the Dubs just don’t travel well. This fool predicts home wins after huge battles in both.

After all the excitement, Leinster will end up with a Galway-Kilkenny final and the Cats going for five in a row. That has a bit of deja vu about it.

At the bottom of the table, Carlow have to travel to Corrigan Park in Belfast. The loser drops through the trapdoor into next year’s Joe McDonagh Cup.

It’s a pity to lose either from the top tier but home comforts should see Antrim live to fight another year.

In Munster, the outcome looks a little more certain.

Clare need to beat Tipperary to make the Munster final. Incredibly, if Tipp lose they will have won just one of their last 12 round-robin games. Clare should have enough to accomplish that mission.

At the same time, Waterford play Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds. It’s tempting to say Waterford have hurled well this summer, and they have, that Limerick are perhaps not where they were, and they’re not.

But we tend to make the mistake every year of comparing Munster Championship Limerick with our last memory of the year before, which is