Munster senior hurling championship round robin permutations on Sunday

THE LIMERICK senior hurlers are hot favourites to reach their seventh Munster senior hurling championship final in-a-row.
The only scenario in which John Kiely's side would miss out on this year's provincial final is if they suffer a 25-point defeat to Clare this Sunday.

As a result, Limerick look almost certain to progress into the provincial final. The Shannonsiders’ sit top of the table on five points, Tipperary are just behind, also on five points with a scoring difference of -3. Cork are in third place on three points, while Waterford sit in fourth place on two points.

Meanwhile, All-Ireland champions Clare have been knocked out of this year's hurling championship. Leader Sport takes a look at the various permutations ahead of the final round of action in the Munster SHC.

Limerick host Clare in the TUS Gaelic Grounds on Sunday evening at 4pm. Cork take on Waterford in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh at the same time on Sunday. Tipperary and Limerick have secured their places in the All-Ireland series, while Cork and Waterford will battle it out for the remaining spot.

Once Limerick avoid a 25-point defeat to Clare they will advance into the Munster final. If Cork beat Waterford, Pat Ryan's side will progress to the Munster final. A draw for Cork will see them come third and a loss will bring ‘the Rebels’ championship campaign to an end.

Waterford need a win to keep their hopes alive of staying in the championship. Tipperary have a bye this weekend and the ‘Premier County’ need Waterford to defeat Cork or for the sides to draw for them to reach this year's Munster final.
John Kiely's charges will have a home provincial final if they play Cork, while if it's a Limerick and Tipperary final it will be played in Thurles.

The third-placed team in Munster will advance to the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals along with the third-placed team in Leinster. Laois, Kildare and Carlow all the remain in the hunt to reach the Joe McDonagh Cup final.

Kilkenny, Dublin and Galway have all advanced into the knockout stages of the championship from Leinster.
Kilkenny will play the winners of Galway or Dublin in the Leinster final and a draw will see ‘the Cats’ take on Galway in the Leinster final.

The All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final takes place on the weekend of June 14-15 and a week later the loser of the provincial finals will take their place in the All-Ireland quarter-finals on June 21-22.

On July 5-6, the Munster and Leinster champions face the winners of the quarter-finals in the All-Ireland SHC semi-finals.
The 2025 All-Ireland senior hurling championship final is set to take centre stage on July 20. This weekend affords John Kiely an opportunity to give more gametime to players in the squad. Kiely's side will look to extend their unbeaten run this weekend.
Peter Casey and Cathal O'Neill impressed on their appearances off the substitutes’ bench scoring 0-2 each against Cork. Both players could be line to make their first starts of the 2025 championship on Sunday.

Seamus Flanagan, Aidan O'Connor and Colin Coughlan were all introduced by John Kiely in Sunday's runaway victory over Cork. Kiely has only suffered two defeats in ten championship games during the Munster championship in the TUS Gaelic Grounds.

It was Seamus Flanagan's first appearance during the Munster senior hurling championship.
Ballybrown clubmen Colin Coughlan and Aidan O'Connor have featured regularly throughout the 2025 inter-county season.
Declan Hannon made his return to the 26-man panel last weekend and Darragh O'Donovan has made his return from injury in recent weeks.

It will be interesting to see whether Kiely decides to shake up his starting XV against Clare. He could see it as a chance to keep consistency in the team. Clare are already out of this year's championship but the ‘Banner County’ will want to finish their Munster SHC campaign on a positive note.