Seamus Flanagan
Five-time All-Ireland winner with Limerick

Cian Lynch is so pivotal to breaking teams down. Him being out is a loss to this Limerick team.

This supporter has split allegiances today!

Seamus Walsh was born in Ahane in Limerick and lives in Cloonlara in Clare, so is showing his support for both in Dublin.

Image source, Getty Images

Seamus Flanagan
Five-time All-Ireland winner with Limerick

I always think the form book goes out the window in games like this. It's on the day and who turns up for 70 minutes.

Clare and Limerick join the band for the pre-match parade and the noise levels in Croke Park go up a notch.

Throw in is just a few moments away.

David Mohan
BBC Sport NI at Croke Park

A fine day in Dublin for today's second All-Ireland hurling semi-final of the weekend as Croke Park gradually fills and the colour green is certainly predominant.

Cian Lynch's absence from Limerick's starting team is one of the pre-match talking points, but has a more than capable replacement in Adam English.

Lynch looks like he is moving well in the warm-up so may well have a part to play this afternoon.

As for Clare, no huge surprise that John Conlon comes in and will likely drop into a sweeper role.

Much is made of Shane O'Donnell's confirmation this will be his last year of inter-county hurling, so will that help galvanise the Banner a little more to ensure there is one last big day for the Ennis man who burst onto the scene in 2013?

Limerick boss John Kiely gives his pre-match thoughts to BBC Sport NI's Mark Sidebottom.

Seamus Flanagan
Five-time All-Ireland winner with Limerick

Everyone is leaning towards a Limerick whitewash and I just don't see it. These two teams bring the absolute best out of each other.

From a Clare perspective I'd akin it to the last dance for a lot of them. It's been so up and down. If you're Limerick and doing analysis, what game do you pick and say here is how Clare play? When they've been good they've been so good, but when they've been poor they've been so poor.

Clare know exactly what Limerick will bring. They know the challenge that's ahead of them. It's intriguing. Clare will have to go to a level we haven't seen this year to beat Limerick.

Clare, All-Ireland winners in 2024, have had a an inconsistent season so far, but will hope to kick into gear at the right time today.

They finished third in the Munster Championship with just two wins from their four games.

The Banner County suffered a dismal 2-30 to 1-18 loss against an understrength Limerick in May and will want to atone for that defeat.

They booked their place in the semi-final with a 0-29 to 0-16 All-Ireland quarter-final win over Dublin in Thurles.

Limerick are brimming with confidence after their Munster Championship title win and will be out to reach a first final since 2023.

A thrilling 2-17 to 1-21 provincial final win at Pairc Ui Chaoimh helped John Kiely's side secure their passage straight through to the last four.

Image source, Getty Images

Clare selector Brendan Bugler gives a fitness update ahead of today's game.

Image source, Getty Images

Shane O'Donnell has confirmed that this season will be his last for Clare, but he will hope that today will not be the end of his glittering hurling career.

The 32-year-old won the Liam McCarthy Cup with the Banner County in 2013 and 2024 and will hope to go out on a high with a third All-Ireland title later this month.

To do so, the three-time All-Star and his teammates will need a big performance to get past Limerick and into the final.

Limerick have been rocked by the unavailability of team captain Cian Lynch for this afternoon's All-Ireland semi-final.

Lynch had been selected at midfield in an unchanged team that started the Munster final win over Cork last month, but is a late withdrawal and his place is taken by Adam English.

Elsewhere, it's as you were for John Kiely's men with Cathal O'Neill cleared to form part of a formidable attack, having shaken off a hamstring problem sustained against Cork.

Clare manager Brian Lohan also named an unchanged team from their quarter-final win over Dublin, but also makes one late change.

John Conlon comes in to replace corner forward Shane Meehan, but it is likely Conlon will play in a much deeper role.

Elsewhere, the Banner have been boosted by the availability of defenders Conor Cleary and David McInerney.

Cleary was forced off in Thurles a fortnight ago with an eye problem, while McInerney was forced off with a leg injury, but both are passed fit to form the spine of the Banner defence.

David Reidy was taken to hospital following a heavy challenge by Dublin's Brendan Kenny but has sufficiently recovered to be named on the bench.

Clare: Eibhear Quilligan; Adam Hogan, Conor Cleary, Darragh Lohan; Diarmuid Ryan, David McInerney, Niall O’Farrell; Tony Kelly (c), Ryan Taylor; Cathal Malone, Mark Rodgers, Sean Rynne; John Conlon, Peter Duggan, Shane O’Donnell.

Subs: Eamon Foudy, Shane Meehan, David Fitzgerald, Ian Galvin, Cian Galvin, Diarmuid Stritch, David Ready, Aron Shanagher, John Conneally, Daithi Lohan, Dylan McMahon.

Limerick: Nickie Quaid; Sean Finn, Dan Morrissey, Barry Nash; Diarmaid Byrnes, William O’Donoghue, Kyle Hayes; Adam English, Darragh O’Donovan; Gearoid Hegarty, Aidan O’Connor, Cathal O’Neill; Aaron Gillane, Shane O’Brien, Peter Casey.

Subs: Colin Ryan, Mike Casey, Colin Coughlan, Cian Lynch (c), Fintan Fitzgerald, Matthew Fitzgerald, Hugh Flanagan, Ethan Hurley, Darragh Langan, Tom Morrissey, David Reidy.

Image source, BBC Sport

Croke Park was a sea of red and maroon yesterday but it is awash with yellow and blue and green today as Clare and Limerick supporters young and old flock to Dublin.

Image source, Inpho

Image source, Inpho

Galway manager Micheal Donoghue said he had "100 percent belief" his team would reach this year's All-Ireland hurling final.

The Leinster champions produced a huge display to score an emphatic win over Cork in Saturday's semi-final and now have a final against either Limerick or Clare to look forward to on 19 July.

While Cork entered the game as favourites to progress to a third-straight final, Saturday's defeat had overtones from their defeat by Tipperary in last year's decider as they found themselves in a deep hole they couldn't find a way out of.

Galway opened brightly, narrowed the gap to one at the break before outscoring the Rebels 1-14 to 0-5 in the second period as they got it tactically perfect and took complete control.

While their Leinster final victory over Dublin in June highlighted their ability to deliver a top performance, some questioned whether they could produce the same again Cork, but Donoghue had no doubt.

"We had 100 percent belief we were going to win the match today," he told BBC Sport NI.

"These lads, since October/November, have been outstanding and brought an unbelievable energy to the jersey.

"They have gone from strength to strength and the month off gave us time to regroup. We worked really hard over the last couple of weeks and I think that was evident today.

"The evidence was there right throughout the league and the championship for us," Donoghue said of his side's potential.

"We were written off before the game but we got a huge performance and I'm just delighted to get over the line.

"We didn't listen to the noise outside. We just kept our focus and prepared for every game and that's what we will do again in two weeks' time."

Image source, Getty Images

Galway booked a place in the All-Ireland hurling final for the first time since 2018 as they upset Cork with a 2-26 to 1-18 win at Croke Park on Saturday.

The Tribesmen, who also won their first Leinster title in eight years last month, produced a strong first half and stunning second to shut down a Cork side that was seeking a third-straight final appearance.

It turned into a similar day for the Rebels from their previous appearance at Croke Park as in last year's final, it went badly wrong in the second period and it was same again as facing an organised defensive structure, they lost their way and hit just five points after the break.

Galway's last Liam MacCarthy success came in 2017 under the stewardship of Micheal Donoghue before losing the following year's final to Limerick whom they could meet in this year's decider should the Shannonsiders get past Clare in Sunday's second semi-final.

They got to hurling's biggest day with an excellent performance, suffocating Cork and leaving plenty of space to attack which they did with aplomb.

With 14 different scorers across the piece, Galway's team display was underlined as substitute Conor Cooney's 1-1 made him his team's top scorer.

From front to back, Galway's leaders stood up while Jason Rabbitte produced a man-of-the-match performance with three points to his name.

Cork just didn't have the same spread with six scorers, led by the excellent Brian Hayes with seven points, but even his influence was curbed in the second period by Galway's ravenous display and the Rebels would lose captain Darragh Fitzgibbon to a second yellow midway through the second period which compounded their woes.

BBC Two

Today's semi-final throws in at 16:00, with build-up to the game on the BBC starting at 15:45.

Neil McManus will join Sarah Mulkerrins in the studio alongside Seamus Flanagan, a five-time All-Ireland winner with Limerick and Tipperary's three-time winner Jason Forde.

Mark Sidebottom pitchside with Dara O Briain and Jamesie O'Connor, while Paul Murphy joins Thomas Niblock on commentary.

Something to whet the appetite for today's game from one of last year's winners - Tipperary's Jason Forde.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of today's second All-Ireland SHC semi-final between Clare and Limerick at Croke Park.

Galway await the winners of this tie, after their fine win over Cork yesterday, in the decider on Sunday, 19 July.

Munster champions Limerick go into the game as favourites to get back to the final for the first time since 2023.

Clare, winners of the Liam McCarthy Cup in 2024, have had an up and down season but will look to emulate the Tribesmen and spring a surprise at Croke.

The game will be live on BBC Two NI and the BBC iPlayer and we will have live text commentary and in-play clips so you won't miss any of the action.

Enjoy!

Image source, Getty Images