Jack O'Connor's ColumnKilkenny's system of internal struggle looks like the template for other elite counties

Brian Cody's biggest challenge at the moment is to keep a straight face when he is being interviewed after matches. On a couple for occasions in the past he has become a little animated when reporters have questioned the quality of the opposition.

On Sunday, after having the luxury of taking off his full back and his entire half-back line in a provincial final, even the normally inscrutable Brian was struggling to put a face on things after Kilkenny's facile win over Wexford.

The worrying aspect is that the lack of serious opposition in Leinster isn't good for Kilkenny, or for the game of hurling itself.

In many way the toughest opponents Kilkenny have had this summer have been their own subs.

The legendary games between the As and the Bs in Nowlan Park on training nights might be better value for admission money than Sunday's Leinster final.

Brian Cody knows that, when faced with an uncompetitive provincial championship, internal competition is the only way of keeping players out of the comfort zone and preventing their standards from dropping.

On Sunday, Kilkenny brought in five new players who didn't play in last September's winning All-Ireland team.

That is an amazing statistic. Normally that sort of turnover means you are in serious transition and looking at long-term rebuilding. Kilkenny have turned it into their secret weapon against the failures of the championship structure.

Constantly refreshing and renewing ensures staleness and complacency are not factors. The universal language in team sports is fear of losing your place.

While Munster teams hone themselves in one of the few competitive provincial championships left, Kilkenny have to battle among themselves to stay sharp.

In Kilkenny they know, from 2001 especially, there is always a chance a superior team can be caught by a leaner, hungrier team who have come a hard road.

The only way around this is to make every training session a war of attrition, with only the fittest surviving. The players then set the standards themselves.

In such an environment injury is always a risk, but when the championship gets serious for Kilkenny there is no point in having everyone available but nobody battle -hardened.

You had to think of Kilkenny when you watched the Munster football final in Killarney on Sunday. The game did not turn out to be the hand-to-hand combat most had expected. It was as if the recent furore over discipline was on players' minds and they were on their best behaviour.

There may, though, have been another, more fundamental, reason for the lack of fireworks. Cork arrived in Killarney last year with a fanatical desire in their bellies to recover lost pride after the previous year's semi-final. This time they were competitive without being fanatical.

In the back of their minds must have been their experiences after winning Munster last year. They will have realised it didn't do Kerry any harm, taking a short diversion out the back door.

In many ways winning the game on Sunday was more important for Kerry. It was a first Munster final win against the old enemy in Killarney in 21 years.

That was motivation enough, but the players had the memory of last year to fuel them and Sunday brought the first piece of silverware for Pat O'Shea's new management team. That it was won in front of Kerry's own supporters will help build the faith.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Cork have spent the winter trying to mould their own version of Kieran Donaghy. Michael Cussen may not be as agile as the Kerry version but he is still a fair operator. His two first-half points hinted at real potential. But Cork need to use him as a first resort, not as an afterthought, like they did on Sunday. If he is used well he will make it awkward for anyone.

Cork fell between two stools in Killarney, between kicking it and carrying it. Cussen wasn't used properly and James Masters was well held by Marc Ó Sé. Cork had no cohesion up front.

At this point you would have to say Kerry are going a fair bit better than at this time last year. Donaghy isn't going at full pelt yet but he is getting there; his peak form is in the post. You can see the effect he is having on the two corner men, Gooch and Mike Frank. Both are playing with the confidence that comes from knowing Donaghy's presence makes opposing full-back lines as nervous as a henhouse with a fox peering in.

Gooch's goal was a case in point. It was an instinctive thing of beauty. Nothing much on, then a diagonal hoof from Cillian Young and pandemonium reigned.

Backs hate that scenario; they don't know whether to watch the ball or the man.

Gooch finished to the net with the kind of cheek that reminded me of the famous backheeled goal Denis Law scored many years ago for Manchester City to relegate Manchester United from the first division.

Schoolyard instinct took over. That's when the Gooch is at his best, playing with freedom and enjoyment.

Cork will probably spend the next three weeks honing the delivery into Cussen. Kerry will know Donaghy is approaching top form. If they both come right the big men will have a big say in the destiny of the real championship. The worry for Kerry is that despite a good Munster final, six weeks is a long time to keep their edge. They may have to look at the Kilkenny way.

Brian Cody has learned to tap into his conveyor belt of top-quality talent to keep his side fresh and lean and fend off the effects of poor provincial structures.

No wonder Cody can't keep a straight face. He has beaten the system that is killing everyone else.

Agus Rud Eile...

Kerry's win in Killarney means that they can put the championship back into storage for a while and return to club business. You might as well present the provincial winners with a Trojan horse instead of the cup.

With that kind of gap between matches it is hard to maintain any sort of momentum within a team.

Last year, Kerry had the replay against Cork and then a qualifier against Longford before facing into D-Day with Armagh.

Joe Kernan's men had to put up with a few weeks of inactivity themselves after winning in Ulster. It is as if there are two separate championships going on.

One, the provincial football championship, gives you several weeks off after winning it and allows you to play club championships in between.

The other system allows you to regroup after defeat, address a couple of problems and come back into the real championship leaner and meaner and match fit.

Teams' views on which route it is better to focus on will change according to whatever happened in the previous summer's campaigns.

But all it will take is for another couple of teams to win the AllIreland coming through the back door for everyone to see that it isn't just the Leinster senior hurling championship that is past its sell-by date.

There is a real danger teams will look at the lie of the land in springtime and wonder if they should be going flat out or not.

There is a chance the provincial football finals will turn into exhibition sparring matches or, as the old west Kerry phrase put it, cogaí na mbó maol, fights of the hornless cows.