Limerick v Waterford, Gaelic Grounds, 3.30pm

Sunday, May 20
Munster GAA Football Championship Quarter-Final
Waterford v Limerick, Gaelic Grounds, 3.30pm

The Munster GAA Football Championship 2012 gets underway this weekend with the meeting of Limerick and Waterford at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick.

While Limerick have reached four Munster finals this Millennium and Waterford have not contested a provincial final since 1960, there has been surprisingly little between the sides when they have met in recent years.

In fact, the most recent meeting was in the Allianz League back in March, when the Déise torpedoed Limerick’s promotion hopes with an excellent 1-18 to 1-14 victory at the Gaelic Grounds.

That victory earned John Owens’ side a measure of revenge for the Round 3 All-Ireland Qualifier defeat they suffered at the hands of Limerick last summer. After a trimming by Cork in the Munster Championship semi-final, Waterford regrouped and earned a creditable victory over London in Ruislip, with team captain Gary Hurney scoring 1-3.

In the next round at the Gaelic Grounds, the game turned on a controversial incident involving Tom Lee in the 59th minute when, with Waterford trailing by just two points, Hurney was sent off. The in-form Stephen Kelly was to the fore as Limerick took advantage of their numerical advantage to record a five-point win.

Hurney is ruled out of Sunday’s game after damaging his jaw in a club championship game with Ballinacourty, while Kelly, Limerick’s star in their run to a first-ever All-Ireland quarter-final appearance, has failed to make their starting XV and is a major loss with ligament damage.

Midfielder Lee is thrown straight into midfield having arrived back from Australia at the start of the month. His inclusion is a major plus given talisman John Galvin is unavailable after damaging his cruciate knee ligament once again in the league game against Fermanagh. Eoin Barry makes his championship debut at wing-forward.

Limerick have won nine Munster Championship games since 2000, but only two of those victories have come at the Gaelic Grounds, against Waterford in 2004 and Clare in 2006.

An indication of the size of the task facing Waterford is the statistic that they have won just twice in the Munster Championship since 1988, with both victories coming on home soil against Clare.

Speaking this week, Waterford manager John Owens was confident of overcoming that poor record.

"There's only a kick of a ball between the two counties on a championship day or a league day," he said.

"What we will be hoping is that we bring our 'A' game and take these guys on in their own backyard, nobody in the dressingroom is afraid of that."

The prize for the winners is a semi-final place against Clare.

Limerick: B Scanlon; J McCarthy, P Browne, L O’Dwyer; S Lavin, J Riordan, P Ranahan; T Lee, P Kinnerk; E Barry, E O’Connor, S Buckley; G Collins, S O’Carroll, I Ryan.

Waterford: TBA