The Galway senior ladies take on Cork this Sunday in the All-Ireland semi-final with throw in at 1.30pm.
The game, originally scheduled for LIT Gaelic Grounds, has now been moved to Parnell Park, Dublin, to allow the Limerick hurlers to train ahead of the All Ireland final.
This semi-final, as all this year's championship’s fixtures, will to be played behind closed doors despite the country moving from level five restrictions to level three.
The winners will advance to an All-Ireland final on December 29 against reigning champions Dublin, and if Galway prevail, it will be a repeat of last year's decider .
Dublin overcame the challenge of a tough Armagh side last Saturday evening in the other semi-final, and they were looking as strong as ever. They wore down Armagh eventually in their 3-13 to 3-08 win despite the heroics of Armagh’s Aimee Mackin.
Now the Dubs are chasing their fourth All-Ireland in a row and appear to be an invincible force, but Galway will be more determined than ever to reach the final in order to put right the defeat they suffered in last year’s decider.
First, however, Tim Rabbit's Galway will face a Cork side they have not beaten at senior level since the Tribeswomen regained their status to the top level in 2002. They have faced them five times since then and that has yielded five defeats, the most recent one a 6-19 to 1-10 drubbing in 2017. It is a stat Tim Rabbitt and his players will be hell bent on putting to bed this weekend.
Galway will have to face into Sunday’s battle without star forward Róisín Leonard of Corofin who missed out through an ankle injury which she suffered during the summer and also caused her to miss the club championship.
Leonard’s ability to regularly supply big tallies from play and placed balls will be a massive loss to Galway. She has been one of their most consistent performers over the past few years and hopefully she will get an opportunity to show her class again in an All-Ireland final.
Galway also look to be without the services of Fabienne Cooney who was shown a straight red card in the quarter-final win over Monaghan for a retaliatory strike on her opponent. It is understood Galway have lodged an appeal.
Galway showed brilliant character to pull through in that gutsy one-point victory over Monaghan in the quarter-final by 2-13 to 3-09 three weeks ago. Despite being down a player for a large part of the second half, Galway prevailed by the minimum in Carrick-on-Shannon.
Olivia Divilly was most impressive for Galway on the day as she scored four from play from midfield. Divilly has been a phenomenon over the past two seasons for club and county and has taken her game to the next level.
Clubmates from Kilkerrine-Clonberne Louise Ward and Lynsey Noone were also on form against Monaghan, with Noone’s late goal crucial to the outcome of the game.
Galway will need to be on song if they are to overcome the Rebelettes on Sunday and set up a rematch with Dublin.
The man in the middle in charge will be Seamus Mulvhill of Kerry.
