Decision on Limerick’s Cian Lynch is made ahead of All-Ireland decider

Lynch missed most of the summer having torn his hamstring against Waterford in April, but he had returned off the bench in their All-Ireland semi-final victory over Galway two weeks ago before disaster struck again.

A frustrating season took a turn for the worse last weekend for the 26-year-old when he picked up an ankle injury in training and he has run out of time to feature for John Kiely's squad against the Cats.

His absence is a huge blow for Kiely, but the Limerick boss must plough ahead and he has named the same starting 15 that took to the field a fortnight ago against the Tribesmen.

Peter Casey has returned from nearly a year out with a cruciate injury in recent weeks, but the All-Star forward is held in reserve as Limerick chase a famous All-Ireland three-in-a-row.

Brian Cody has also named an unchanged team for Sunday’s clash.

Limerick: Nickie Quaid; Sean Finn, Mike Casey, Barry Nash; Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Dan Morrissey; William O'Donoghue, Darragh O'Donovan; Gearoid Hegarty, Kyle Hayes, Tom Morrissey; Aaron Gillane, Seamus Flanagan, Graeme Mulcahy.

Subs: Barry Hennessy, Conor Boylan, Peter Casey, Aaron Costello, Colin Coughlan, Richie English, Robbie Hanley, Barry Murphy, Cathal O'Neill, Oisin O'Reilly, David Reidy

Kilkenny: E Murphy; H Jawlor, T Walsh, P Deegan; R Reid, M Butler, M Carey, C Kenny, C Browne; A Mullen, P Walsh, B Ryan; TJ Reid, M Keoghan, E Cody.