Preview | Bruff and Sarsfields do battle in All-Ireland Junior B Hurling Championship final

Saturday’s final will pit the Munster and Leinster champions against each other in a bid to be crowned the best in Ireland.

Bruff are just an hour away from an All-Ireland title this Saturday afternoon as they take on Sarsfields of Galway in the Junior B Championship decider in Killeedy at 2pm.

It is a meeting of the provincial champions who came past their respective semi-finals a fortnight ago with both beating the same pair of sides in their previous two meetings.

Bruff overcame Thurles Sarsfields in the Munster decider before beating St Martins of Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final. Sarsfields defeated the Kilkenny side in the Leinster final and the Tipperary men in the last four of the national championship.

A last-minute free from David Browne was the difference between Bruff and St Martins as they booked their place in the final. In the game’s 83rd minute, Browne fired over his 11th of the afternoon to send the South Limerick men into the All-Ireland final.

Browne was on hand to send the game to extra-time as he fired over the final two points in normal time. Bruff were three clear approaching the final whistle in extra-time but St Martins looked like bringing the game to penalties with a last-minute goal. However, there was still time for Browne to pull Bruff through.

The following day, Sarsfields were 2-20 to 1-16 winners over Thurles in the same venue. The Galway and Leinster champions were two clear at the half before powering to the finish line.

And they will be looking to become the fifth Galway side to claim the All-Ireland title in Kileedy following Menlo Emmetts (2007), Athenry (2009), Ballinderreen (2011) and Loughrea (2020).

Bruff are seeking to follow in the footsteps of Doon who beat Killenaule in the 2015 final.

Both sides are heavily represented in the Junior B Hurling All-Stars nominee list which was released during the week. The Limerick side have nominees in the form of Niall Brosnan, David Browne, Cian Madden, David Mulqueen and Oisin Mulqueen. Sarsfields also have five nominations with Kieran Kelly, Liam Michael Kelly, Sean Kelly, Cian O’Regan and Kerril Wade up for an award.

They will be revealed after the final this Saturday with the player of the championship also chosen.

However, for both sides, there will be little focus on any individual awards as they lie just an hour from a national title. Both have had to dig deep to be the last standing but there can only be one winner come Saturday.

Catch our preview of the game and so much more in this week’s edition of Treaty Talk.

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