Holders Galway host first ever Leinster championship game against Kilkenny

IT is the battle of the champions at Pearse Stadium on Sunday (4pm) as All-Ireland holders Galway host National League winners Kilkenny in a Leinster SHC fixture that is sure to attract a massive crowd to the Salthill venue.

Remarkably, this will be Galway’s first ‘home’ championship game since they defeated Clare by 4-25 to 0-20 at the same location seven years ago. Of those possibly to feature for the Tribesmen this Sunday, goalkeeper James Skehill, David Burke, Joe Canning and Aidan Harte are the only survivors from that fixture in 2011.

On that occasion, a crowd of 13,011 turned up for the All-Ireland qualifier and it would be a surprise if this weekend’s tally did not significantly surpass that given the historical nature of this contest – it being the first home match for Galway since they joined the Leinster competition back in 2009.

In other words, this will be a whole new experience for the majority of Micheal Donoghue’s squad and they couldn’t have asked for a stiffer test upon their championship return to home turf than Allianz League champions, Kilkenny.

Ask any past Galway hurler, even those from the successful teams in the 1980s, and they will admit the one side they continually seemed to have trouble with was Kilkenny. The statistics certainly bear testament to that.

This will be the 43rd championship meeting between the sides, with Kilkenny having taken the victory on 31 of the previous 42 occasions. Galway have nine wins and there have been two draws.

Indeed, in the last 10 previous encounters between the two, the Tribesmen have won just once – the 2012 Leinster final decider – and so the current Galway outfit will be under no illusions as to the mammoth task in hand.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.