Denis Walsh relies on some familiar faces and whatever happens tomorrow, they won't be the next Cork side to win the All-Ireland, writes NICKY ENGLISH

WHEN DENIS Walsh, who I knew and admired as an ultra-competitive player, took over the Cork job just weeks from the championship I felt this was a match he knew the players would target and not just in the obvious sense but with a view to winning back the fans, forgetting the past and getting everyone behind the hurling team again.

That’s the mindset they’ll have tomorrow and they’ll be dangerous because they are, as they showed last year, capable of having a go on a one-off basis. But there’s a surprising familiarity about the team. Despite the pressing need to rebuild, they’ve only as many debutants as Tipperary.

All the talk is that they are extremely happy, training well and winning their challenge matches. The problem with challenges these days as opposed to back even in the mid-1990s is there used to be a gap for them but the league has filled that out now. There’s not enough time any more. So the fact that Cork have really had to go for challenge matches is unusual.

It’s easy to see why they would be up for those matches but you can’t be sure what the opposition were thinking.

It’s more accurate to look at Cork’s form over the past two years and how does that hold up after another year, particularly on top of the stress related to the strike and the energy that went into meetings. What has all of that taken out of them? Last year they were hot favourites going in against Tipperary in Páirc Uí­ Chaoimh but ultimately they came unstuck because Tipp had too much energy for them. They went on to surprise Galway in one of those one-off battles but against Kilkenny when the real push came in the second quarter of the game they were left on the blocks.

So it’s a leap of faith by Denis Walsh to go with the old familiar team, particularly the middle section, half backs, midfield and half forwards, which was the rock they built their successes on. There are no new faces in there. Whatever they pull out of the hat tomorrow, it’s impossible to see that team becoming the next Cork side to win an All-Ireland.

With Tipperary, league performances are generally a reliable guide. Last year 95 per cent of their league had been really good and there was no doubt going to Páirc Uí­ Chaoimh they were going to play well. It’s harder to read Tipp’s league form this year but it wasn’t up to the intensity of last year, apart from in the final when they impressed.

Now everyone says they’re the main threat to Kilkenny but that’s based on one game rather than eight or nine like last year.

The fact that Conor O’Mahony and Eoin Kelly are back is a boost for Tipp but whatever about O’Mahony, who played in the league, Kelly – and the same goes for Seán Óg Ó hAilpín – must have match fitness issues because of the lack of playing time they’ve had this year.

In midfield Tom Kenny has been outstanding for Cork but Jerry O’Connor has suffered from injuries so he’s not the force that he once was and James Woodlock and Shane McGrath have massive engines. Woodlock’s been tried around the place but the spaces at midfield suit him better. Distribution is still a problem but he’s a powerful ball-winner.

The common perception is that the Tipperary forwards and the half forwards in particular are the problem but I think that John O’Brien, Séamus Callanan and Lar Corbett is a good half-forward line. O’Brien’s delivery has been patchy throughout his career and he and Corbett have struggled to find the consistency of performance necessary to fill leadership roles in the team. If they can do that – and I’ve a feeling they can – it will be a huge boost for Tipperary and certainly fix the half-forward line.

Kelly’s return and the arrival of Noel McGrath has strengthened the full forwards and it’s now the defence that’s the Achilles heel. Even in the league final they conceded too many scores. There’d be questions tomorrow about the balance of the half backs, whether three centre backs mean that you actually have a half-back line.

The question now is which of them can play wing back, not centre back. Unusually for Tipp where it’s normally the other way around it’s at wing back that they’ve had problems, using an awful lot of players. In that regard Shane Maher is a big loss.

I’ll be surprised if O’Mahony doesn’t line out at centre back. He’s the All Star in the position and if you have him you should use him. If the worry is that he’s not sharp, wing back is hardly the place for him with Ben O’Connor rampaging down the wing all day.

There’s a big onus on Tipp’s corner backs because whatever Denis Walsh sees in Aisake Ó hAilpín he’s certainly big enough and strong enough to do a similar job to Micheál Webster and break plenty of ball for Patrick Horgan and Kieran Murphy, so their markers will have to hold up. However, I think Tipperary have picked a team that should have the energy to cope with Cork.

Tonight I would discount everything about the first league match between Wexford and an understrength Offaly except the Wexford Park factor. Tipp always had difficulty going there and as a venue on a Saturday evening it’s worth four or five points.

In the Division Two final, Offaly had a bit more craft and I think they’re the better hurling team.

Finally it’s good to see Galway in Leinster. It makes the championship much more symmetrical. The key for John McIntyre is that the Portumna guys are assimilated into the team but there’ll be bigger tests.