Kilkenny v Clare All-Ireland semi-final preview: Cats aim to slow Banner march

It's been a while. Sixteen years, in fact, since Clare and Kilkenny last faced each other in championship, a remarkable length of time given the shallow pool that is elite hurling.

In the Ger Loughnane era, the teams met twice in semi-finals, winning one each: Clare in 1997 and Kilkenny in Brian Cody’s first campaign in charge two years later. Following that, there was a decider comfortably won by the Cats in 2002, a replayed quarter-final in ’04 - the year that Cork edged Kilkenny in a low-scoring finale – and a one-sided semi in ’06 as Cody’s men steamrolled their way to the first of four in a row.

There have been regular league meetings (Kilkenny haven’t won since 2015) but this is only the eighth championship clash overall, mostly as Clare didn’t win Munster for another 63 years after losing the 1932 All-Ireland final to today’s opponents. So there just isn’t the spice there that either side would have for nearer neighbours.

After losing by four points in 1999, Loughnane said that "We have always looked to Kilkenny - that's the standard to live up to" – it’s hard to imagine he would have been as gracious in defeat to Tipperary or Cork. Okay, Cody did call him "a lunatic from Clare" but that was in 2007 when then-Galway boss Ger had the temerity to question the legality of Kilkenny’s tackling.

Loughnane is long gone and his former full-back Brian Lohan now runs the Clare sideline. Cody carries on like a era-defining monarch. Next year would be his silver jubilee – but he wants that metal on the mantelpiece sooner.

Three provincial titles in a row would cheer a lot of counties, Kilkenny not so much. They haven’t won the All-Ireland title since 2015, the longest drought since Cody’s first in 2000. He has won 16 out of 20