NHL DIVISION ONE:THE LAST round of the Allianz National Hurling League may involve more shadowboxing than potential knockouts, but at least the final itself promises to be a heavyweight showdown.

Three of the four last games in Division One on Sunday week have effectively become meaningless, the exception being Dublin’s clash with Limerick at Parnell Park – which will decide the grave matter of relegation to Division Two.

More on that anon, as the last top-of-the-table clash between Cork and Galway may be meaningless in nature but not, perhaps, in spirit. Cork’s win over Tipperary on Sunday – and likewise Galway’s win over Dublin – secured both a place in the final on May 2nd.

Surprisingly, that will mark a first league final meeting between the two, even though they’ve won 22 titles between them.

Given Cork’s last league title win was 12 years ago, and Galway’s six years ago, neither Cork manager Denis Walsh nor his counterpart, John McIntyre, will want to let the chance slip in Thurles on the first Sunday in May.

So while their scheduled meeting in Pearse Stadium on Sunday week will inevitably draw some shadowboxing, it is the chance for the managers to sense what exactly the opposition has up their sleeve, and thus lay down their strategy for the more honest-to-goodness final.

“Maybe I’ll put a call into Denis this week and come to some agreement where each man fields every second ball or something like that,” said McIntyre, when asked how he’ll approach the so-called dress rehearsal.

“We hadn’t given it too much thought yet, obviously. It’s a nice position to be in, and a nice position for Cork to be in as well. Look, I can assume there will be a little bit of shadowboxing going on.”

Walsh had a similar view when commenting after Cork’s one-point win over Tipperary on Sunday – which, by the way, was also billed as a dress rehearsal for their Munster championship showdown on May 30th.

“We spoke about shadowboxing in this game, against Tipperary, and I’m sure there’ll be some bit of shadowboxing the next day,” said Walsh.

“But it means we can look more seriously at lads who were half-injured, and give fellas more game time. I’m sure Galway will do the same.”

Galway will be down at least one player on Sunday week, as centre forward Cyril Donnellan is facing a four-week suspension for the straight red card he received on Sunday – along with Dublin’s centre back Tomás Brady. (Donnellan’s suspension will end just in time for the final.)

Joe Canning, who retired shortly before the final whistle with an apparent leg injury, should be fine as that turned out to be nothing more serious than cramp.

McIntyre and Dublin manager Anthony Daly were critical of the decision of match referee Barry Kelly to dismiss both players on straight red cards.

However, unless Dublin successfully appeal Brady’s suspension, he’ll be a serious loss for their relegation showdown against Limerick. The losers go down, no matter what. Limerick have yet to secure any points, losing all six games, while Dublin only have the two points from their second-round win over Tipperary.

Dublin, crucially, have home advantage in Parnell Park, but there’s no denying Justin McCarthy’s Limerick team, although down the majority of last year’s self-exiled panellists, are slowly but steadily improving.

They lost to Kilkenny by seven points last Sunday, but it was far from the hammering some predicted.

“It’s always hard to win a game in Parnell Park, but we’ll give it a go,” declared McCarthy. “We’re making progress and we’ll keep at it. It’s going to be good for us, and the lads realise that. We’ll have a few lads back from injuries as well, so that’ll help. We’ll give it our best shot and see how it goes.”