The Munster SHC quarter-final between Cork and Tipperary at Semple Stadium on Sunday week will be a standalone fixture after the decision by both counties not to field an U25 team,
.The U25 competition has taken the place of the intermediate championship and while Cork had planned to field an intermediate team, when it became the U25 competition, they decided to pull the plug on their involvement.
Munster Council had sought to stage the Munster U17 hurling final between Cork and Waterford as the curtain-raiser at Thurles on Sunday week, but neither of the respective counties were agreeable.
The decision by Cork and Tipperary to withdraw means Waterford have been granted a free pass to the final, while Clare and Limerick will meet on June 4 on the other side of the draw.
Covered stand tickets for Cork-Tipperary clash are €25, stand tickets without cover are €20, while the terrace is €15.
Meanwhile, Kieran Bergin has joined the Tipperary senior football squad – 16 days after leaving the Premier County’s hurling panel.
The 31-year-old Killenaule clubman trained with the footballers for the first time in Thurles on Thursday night.
His addition is a major coup for manager Liam Kearns, who could do with cover in the half-back line with Kevin Fahey ruled out of a potential Munster SFC semi-final with Cork on June 10.
Bergin, a 2016 All-Ireland SHC medallist, was previously involved with the football set-up for a brief spell in 2013, before good form with Dublin IT in the Fitzgibbon Cup brought him to the attention of then hurling manager Eamon O’Shea.
His last appearance for the hurlers came against Cork in March, when he lined out in a Páirc Uí Rinn reverse, but now he’s in line for a senior football championship debut in the forthcoming campaign.
Work commitments were cited as a reason for Bergin’s departure from the hurlers, but it’s understood he was more frustrated with a lack of playing time, and informed manager Michael Ryan of his decision to leave on April 25.
The Tipperary footballers are awaiting next month’s provincial semi-final opponents, with Cork and Waterford clashing at the quarter-final stage on May 27 at Fraher Field, Dungarvan.