SaturdayAll Ireland Hurling quarter-finalClare v Dublin, Semple Stadium, Thurles, 7pm (Live on RTÉ 1)Clare and Dublin suffered multiple flesh wounds the last time we saw them. What matters now is how they have healed. In that process Clare hold the aces.It is easier to make excuses for their performance against Cork than for Dublin’s capitulation in the Leinster final. The pivotal game in Clare’s season so far had been eight days earlier against Tipperary and for a team with their age profile their mental and physical resources were simply depleted.Four weeks has allowed time for Mark Rodgers, Ryan Taylor and Darragh Lohan to recover from injuries and for everybody else to catch their breath. It is hackneyed to say that the Clare forward line is among the best in the championship, but the fact is they haven’t clicked since the opening game against Waterford.Shane O’Donnell and Peter Duggan have been below their best, David Reidy has been in and out, David Fitzgerald is a shadow of the player he was two years ago. Diarmuid Stritch and Seán Rynne are young players having a breakthrough season and they were terrific against Tipp; against Cork, though, they couldn’t swim against the tide. They weren’t alone.In Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Clare lost a game they didn’t need to win; it is impossible for Dublin to view the Leinster final in that way. In every respect they were wiped out. They coughed up 4-15 on turnovers, having only conceded 0-11 on turnovers to Kilkenny. Their shots output dropped from 45 to 32 from one game to the next. Against an elite opponent, those numbers are unsustainable.For all the strides that Dublin have made over the last 18 months, they lost the Leinster final in just the same way they have lost other Leinster finals over the last 13 years. For the sake of this group and their future together they can’t afford to implode again. Expect Clare to have straightened themselves out. Verdict: ClareAlan Walsh of Cork in action against Sean Finn of Limerick. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho SundayAll Ireland Hurling quarter-finalCork v Offaly, Semple Stadium, Thurles, 3.30pm (Live on RTÉ 1)Offaly’s re-emergence as a competitive force in the Leinster championship has been the most heartening story of the championship. The band of young players that reached three age-grade All-Ireland finals in as many years have more experience at senior level already than their peers in other counties and that is starting to tell.The question is how strong are form lines from the Leinster championship? Kilkenny and Wexford are at their lowest ebb in years and there are queries about Dublin against after the Leinster final. The unvarnished reality is that Cork are the strongest opponents they will have met so far.Cork have made four changes in their front eight, two of them enforced by injury. Brian Roche will not weaken Cork’s centrefield and Alan Walsh deserves his chance in the corner. Offaly took a beating in a challenge match against Clare recently and a similar fate awaits them here. Verdict: Cork