The respective All-Ireland final captains Alan Browne and DJ Carey have been seeing a lot of each other recently. Such are the modern-day media demands the two have been on a whistle stop tour, of sorts, of the country as part of the build-up towards the championship decider.

Things have changed a lot since DJ's first final in 1991 and the inevitable consequence of an ever more luminous spotlight is making greater demands on Carey's time.

"We both did a signing day in Cork and Kilkenny and there was something like between 7-10,000 people," said the Kilkenny skipper. "It's absolutely crazy that we're doing that. That wasn't going on years ago.

"The reason for that was to protect the players the two or three weeks before the game, so when you are running in off the field after training there is no-one coming up to you for autographs so you can go in and get your shower but that is still not working."

Rolling into Ballsbridge for a sponsor function yesterday - attended mostly by faintly bemused local businessmen on their lunch break, Dublin 4 not having a massive reputation as a hurling stronghold - Carey admitted he still hadn't become inured to the strain the razzmatazz of an All-Ireland build-up brings.

"I think it would be far easier on myself and Alan if the management allowed a few more (players) out to talk," he says.

"In Kilkenny, and I can only talk about Kilkenny, Brian's (Cody) attitude is: do what you want to do; on the media night the media have access to you and speak if you want and don't if you want."

Carey added that the increasing hesitancy of many young players towards the press comes from the way they have seen others before them being persecuted for overexposing themselves, especially in the wake of a poor performance.

"I suppose there is that little bit of a fear factor attitude with players," he said. "There is so much attention given and you know if we don't do it and we don't say anything there is less pressure on us. I think that is what has been creeping in over the years."

Also the chance that something a player says can be taken by the opposition and used as a motivational tool - a tactic Armagh football manager Joe Kernan has almost patented - is another genuine worry for many players.

"I think that has happened a little bit," admitted Carey. "But certainly from our point of view all players are asked to go do their bit (with the media) if they want to and if they don't well . . . then most of it's left to myself.

"I say to the lads to go and do it as it takes the pressure off myself. I suppose I'm comfortable enough with that over the years but you're getting the same stuff from me, whenever you ask, whereas someone else might have a different angle.

"But it's all about the comfort zone. This for most fellas is: 'I want to prepare for the match as quietly as possible and keep my head down and say nothing'. If that is the comfort zone well then let it be."

The spectre of the new sliotar controversy also still looms over this summer's championship. Carey has been hitting the current incarnation 40 yards further than other balls, but control has been a challenge even for the master.

"If he is having trouble controlling it, just imagine what it's like," said Browne. "I don't think it would be the favoured ball but I think from a spectator's point of view it would be a godsend because of the amount of goals that have been scored. But it is making the game more difficult for players."

After going on strike at the start of the year, Cork became many people's dark horses due to the bonding effect the whole affair had on them.

"It really united the team," said a relaxed Browne yesterday. "We went out on a limb to be honest, we took a stance that we felt was necessary.

"I have a feeling that if Cork win the All-Ireland on the 14th there could be a lot of teams going on strike next December."