At the start of the year I was really impressed by Cork's prospects but the very first game against Tipperary created doubts for me because I was surprised at how poor they were. Part of my rationale before the championship was based on their getting to Croke Park, which I felt would suits them.
Now they've arrived there and it's hard to be convinced after their sign-off in Munster. I know Clare were really up for it and that the conditions were bad and there were all sorts of excuses for what happened but it wasn't particularly reassuring from their point of view.
For both teams this is a chance of redemption and both have plenty to redeem. They have each stuttered in their respective, provincial championships and need to win this to have a chance of getting back on track.
Kilkenny’s vulnerabilities have been well exposed in a campaign which yielded them just a 50 per cent record – a struggling Galway did a job on them in Nowlan Park and Dublin also pushed them hard there.
In the final against Wexford – a match I believed that they would win – Kilkenny put in an uncharacteristically jittery finish. I didn't see the match live but was listening on the radio as I came back from Limerick – and had travelled a fairly long distance coming into Dublin while they continually went for goals with just three points in the game.
Leinster has provided very competitive, physical matches, which now leaves the remaining teams battle-hardened in a way their opponents mightn't be
On reviewing it, I thought the Wexford-Kilkenny final was very tough, in keeping with the pattern of contrast between the provinces.
Whereas Munster was more exuberant with big scoring totals and frequently wide margins in contests that petered out before the end, Leinster has provided very competitive, physical matches, which now leaves the remaining teams battle-hardened in a way their opponents mightn't be.
It will be really interesting to see what happens on Sunday when the provincial lines converge. I’m not as convinced as I was at the start of the championship that the Munster teams, with the exception of Limerick at their best, are playing on a higher level.
Kilkenny have fought very hard in their games but are compromised by inexperience on key areas, partly brought about by injury, and an over-reliance on TJ Reid. I thought they'd win because of greater firepower but hadn't counted on Cillian Buckley being out and Walter Walsh not being fully fit.
The big question for them is: are the bodies are ready for this? I don't think they can afford to be without Buckley and Walsh and with Richie Hogan restricted to a few seconds off the bench at the end. Brian Cody no longer has the resources to play through that.
Again, this year we’ve seen a lot of changes and rotating on the Kilkenny team but we saw that last year and ultimately they did take some beating, as Limerick found out in the quarter-final.
Cork have to build up again. They have been disappointing for a team seen as possible All-Ireland champions. Potential is definitely there but so are reservations. Their defence conceded 20 points to Westmeath last week. Colm Spillane is a loss in the full-back line and that isn't helping.
On the credit side, they have plenty of pace and scoring capacity and in the preliminary quarter-final they hit 40 points. Croke Park and its open spaces will suit them going forward and Alan Cadogan is a major acquisition compared with last year.
But visualising them putting up scores isn’t the issue. Who for instance will mark TJ Reid? It’s a critical question. Wexford had Matt O’Hanlon, who had done a good job on Reid previously, but who have Cork?
Could Mark Ellis do it – more likely he'd move to full back and let Eoin Cadogan do the marking?
What convinces me to go with Cork, hesitantly, is their room for improvement and that they have the wherewithal to take on Limerick. If they're off the pace, it's not hard to see Kilkenny winning but I'm pretty sure that John Kiely would prefer to see Cork out of the way before the semi-finals.
Kilkenny will as usual be more than the sum of their parts but that’s a more limited accumulation than it used to be.
In the second semi-final, Laois are the big story. Although clearly unexpected, it wasn't a huge upset for me that they beat Dublin, as I was familiar with Paddy Purcell and Ross King from UCD and they were as good as their Dublin counterparts. Carlow IT got to a Fitzgibbon final with a number of Laois hurlers on board.
I wouldn’t underestimate them but I don’t think that Tipp will, either.
Before the Munster final I described the loss of Bonner Maher as incalculable so there’s no reason to review that assessment.
That’s not to say that he mightn’t have been tired in Limerick if fit to play but it’s all hypothetical at this stage. Tipperary are going to have to win ball, which they didn’t in the Munster final. There was no threat to Limerick’s strongest line, the half backs, or their midfield.
In other words it resurrected the ghosts of recent years when winning possession became such a problem. Up until the final, Noel McGrath had been ruling the roost in the middle and he needs to relocate that form.
The Tipperary psyche doesn’t get over defeat that easily and so this offers the opportunity to get back on track and they should take it.
