Semple Stadium looking class again ahead of Leinster final

Some difference a week makes.

Semple Stadium wasn't in great nick for the Munster final last weekend. The recent heatwave combined with a lack of rainfall had seen the Thurles pitch scorched for the provincial decider.

"I've been in Thurles a huge number of times in my life, and it was the first time I'd seen it in the state that it was in," commented Seamus Cheddar Plunkett on Thursday's GAA Hour Hurling Show.

The groundsmen for the home of hurling faced a huge number of challenges last week. On top of the incessant sunshine, the introduction of a hose-pipe ban due to the drought type weather conditions meant that, on top of the perception of using water on the field not looking good, the groundsmen wouldn't be able to use the pitch's normal sprinklers. To former Tipperary hurler Pa Bourke, along with fellow groundsman Dave Hanley's credit, the pair made the best of the tricky situation with the burned pitch certainly not seeming to have impacted on the standard of hurling from both Cork and Clare. Though the weather conditions have remained similarly bright this week, the temperatures have eased slightly. It's cooler and there's more a draft around the country. When Semple Stadium was announced as the venue for the Leinster hurling final replay between Galway and Kilkenny this Sunday, the focus was on whether the Munster hurling headquarters would be able to turn itself around in the space of a week. Whether the lads used a hose-pipe to suck water out of a river and then dragged it into the stadium is unknown, but with the stadium unable to use its natural sprinklers, the fact that they have the pitch in such pristine condition prior to Sunday's big one is a credit to themselves.

"There's ways of doing this, there's plenty of rivers with water in them." added Plunkett.

https://twitter.com/trutipp/status/1014903397407973377 It looks back to its very best. Bring on Sunday at 3.00.