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Preview: Na Piarsaigh v Oulart-The Ballagh

OTB v Na Piarsaigh

OTB v Na Piarsaigh

Saturday, February 6

AIB GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Club Championship Semi-Final**

Na Piarsaigh (Limerick) v Oulart-The Ballagh (Wexford), Thurles, 3.45pm - Live on TG4

Consider the fact that Na Piarsaigh have never lost a match in the Munster Club Championship, winning eight and drawing one of their nine games in the competition on the way to provincial titles in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

Now consider the fact that they have never managed to convert one of those Munster titles into a single victory in the All-Ireland series. The Limerick city side lost to Loughgiel in 2012 (after extra-time) and then Portumna in 2014, both of whom went on to win the All-Ireland title, so Saturday’s game is a chance to lay to rest a few ghosts for the three-time Limerick and Munster champions.

Still, converting five Limerick SHC final appearances into three county and provincial titles is a quite remarkable record, one Oulart-The Ballagh would quite happily swap given their well-documented struggles in the Leinster Championship.

All of Oulart’s 12 Wexford SHC titles have come in a golden era since 1994, but their success on the domestic front has been overshadowed by the fact that they lost six Leinster finals in that time, including four in a row from 2010 to 2013.

Back in late November, they finally rammed the ‘Oulart-The Bottlers’ moniker they had unfortunately acquired down their critics’ throats, delivering themselves from a terrible place with a 2-13 to 0-13 win over Dublin champions Cuala.

Free now from that purgatory, Oulart-The Ballagh are, naturally, playing in their first-ever game in the All-Ireland series. Expectations are high, having overcome Clough-Ballacolla (Laois) and Clonkill (Westmeath) in the early rounds in Leinster.

Oulart’s playing resources run deep: Keith Rossiter, Rory Jacob, David Redmond and Garrett Sinnott are a quartet with a wealth of experience at club and inter-county level. In fact, experience is one of this side’s most valuable resources, even if much of it has been portrayed in a negative light by that series of defeats.

Na Piarsaigh’s credentials are equally strong, having beaten Sixmilebridge (Clare), Thurles Sarsfields (Tipperary) and then Ballygunner (Waterford) en route to the Munster title.

A large, urban club founded in the late 1960s, Na Piarsaigh have a huge pick and a squad to match their vast resources. Ronan Lynch, Cathal King, David Breen, Kevin Downes and Shane Dowling are all superb hurlers, the latter trio forming one of the deadliest attacks in club hurling.

Given their recent emergence – Na Piarsaigh contested the first of five county finals in 2009 – the Limerick side still have lots to prove at this level. While Oulart’s years of hurt were wiped out with the Leinster final win over Cuala, the ultimate deliverance would come in the form of an All-Ireland title.