ALL-IRELAND SHC SEMI-FINAL:WHAT NEWS from Kilkenny? No bleeding stones down there, unfortunately. The champions have been presented with an ideal lead-in to their quest for the five-in-a-row as refereeing and football matters dominate the GAA landscape so far this season.

On their two previous outings this summer, Dublin meekly surrendered, while Galway lacked the arsenal or intensity to push them for provincial honours. That was a shame but Kilkenny were not to blame – they were simply too good for the Tribesmen, who have since departed the main stage, albeit with their dignity intact.

All the time manager Brian Cody is maintaining, we suspect, the voracious appetite of his panel with some ash-shattering practice matches down in Nowlan Park.

The midfield conundrum is the best way of showing their intimidating strength in depth. Michael Rice nailed down a role alongside Michael Fennelly this season, but his likely absence this Sunday with a hand injury leaves Derek Lyng and Cha Fitzpatrick fighting to replace him. Elsewhere, Aidan Fogarty and the now-injured Richie Hogan are being kept out by the form of the forwards in situ.

So, same old, same old in the Marble halls. They are experts at hiding in the long grass as much as they are kings at peaking in August and, again, in September.

“There is never much news down our way,” reported selector Martin Fogarty. “We are just ticking away as usual, you know, just waiting now for Sunday – it is going to be a big contest.”

Cork and Kilkenny in an All-Ireland semi-final, it is hoped, will give us something to remember come the winter months.

“Cork have tremendous experience. They have players who have been there, done that and we know this better than most. It is a huge opportunity for them; they would dearly love to be the team that dethrones us. As we would to them if the roles are reversed.”

There was a captivating rivalry between the counties as recently as 2006, as they wrestled each other for three-in-a-rows, but then Kilkenny bolted.

Cork were chasing a third successive All-Ireland and the immortality that follows, having ruined Kilkenny’s quest for that honour in the 2004 decider on an emphatic 0-17 to 0-9 score line. They last met in championship two years ago, at the semi-final stage, when Cork hurled well before Kilkenny stretched their legs, but really it was in the 2006 All-Ireland final that Cork began to falter.

“Sure, there is always rivalry with Kilkenny and Cork and long may it last,” Fogarty continues. “Things haven’t been going the way they wanted it these last few years but now they are in an All-Ireland semi-final – one match away from an All-Ireland final so they will be firing on all cylinders, trying to put one over on us. While they didn’t win the Munster title, I have been very impressed with them. They are back on song. Their players are young enough and they have done it all before. They know how to win, basically.”

The championship needed Galway and Tipperary to come to Croke Park and give the public a thrilling quarter-final. The same probably needs to happen on Sunday, for hurling’s sake, as another Kilkenny canter, especially against Cork, would send the floating sports fan elsewhere.

“The ball in hurling moves so fast teams could be even for 65 minutes and then one team wins by a half-dozen points,” says Fogarty.

That team has been Kilkenny for the past 20 championship outings. If anyone can stop them making it 21 and then 22, it is their old friends from Cork.