Cork's need to control can contain wild abandon

Some day, historians of the code will date one of hurling's eras to a puckout. Which delivery? That short one from Dónal Óg Cusack to Diarmuid O'Sullivan in 2003's meeting between Clare and Cork.

The decision remains, in both senses of the term, a stroke. There was no grand programme. That afternoon, the Rebels simply wanted to stop the Banner crowding midfield and dominating corridors of play in the physical stakes. Innovation sent the sliothar direct to the full-forward line, gaining space in the middle by forcing all Dalcassian attackers to stay at home.

Trial and error, over two seasons, evolved a tight system. Necessity (half-forwards indifferent at fetching) unfolded a virtue (carefully minded possession). The rest was the increments of finesse.

Pragmatic beginnings or not, the implications still resonate. Resigning as Limerick coach, Ger Cunningham expressed very specific frustration: "They must change the traditional style of hurling they are playing, which is just to get the ball and hit it. We all know hurling has changed dramatically in the last five years."

Not everyone is mad about the swerve. Ex-Premier star Michael Cleary spoke last July about the champions' current emphasis: "I detest it. To me, hurling is a spontaneous game, playing with abandon, haphazard, breaking ball."

Come Sunday, Tipperary will attempt an arbitration. Cork do prize acumen and assurance, calibration and control. Specifically, their forwards break into space, leaving them three or so yards off a marker. The duty of the player in possession is to strike his delivery so this space is the forward's trump.

A counter-bid therefore follows for the opposition. Disrupt clearances and you discommode attackers far more than is normally achievable, since the Rebel sextet does not thrive on haphazard ball.

The contenders must unsettle the most lauded half-back line since Doyle-McMahon-Daly. Babs Keating might try shifting Lar Corbett out to left wing forward. While John Gardiner is a fine hurler, he does not enjoy an opponent running at him (as Alan Kerins showed last September).

Corbett is erratic and has the typical cack-hander's flaw of one-sidedness. But he is good in the air, a powerful striker when running from left to right (as his goal against Waterford re-emphasised) and possesses the cack-hander's one natural advantage: being able to make a reverse handpass with his strong hand.

With Eoin Kelly at top of the left, there is the prospect of a scoring handpass or two, the corner back drawn by a searing run.

Ger "Redser" O'Grady is not a running forward and would seem less equipped to trouble Ronan Curran than, say, Séamus Prendergast. What the captain will have is the work rate to pressure clearances. While John Carroll, in the pink of condition, would have the physical wherewithal to disconcert Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, the Roscrea man's 70-minute fitness is doubtful.

A key point will be Diarmaid Fitzgerald's position. Wasted at corner forward, he could be the best man to take on Ó hAilpín.

For midfield, Keating goes with Paul Kelly's point-scoring potential as a counterbalance to his looseness. Correct call: Colin Morrissey would be a mule among palominos. Shane McGrath faces the biggest challenge of his career and hardly looks up to it. Tipp will need some luck for success in this sector.

They need to remember that a diagonal groundstroke by John Hoyne cleaved the Cork defence in the 2003 and 2004 All-Ireland deciders. Rebel defenders are not crazy about going sideways to a sliothar, especially when facing their own posts. Embrace abandon, so, and move ball in with alacrity preferably on the ground. Leeside's full-back line is dodgy enough at the minute. Kelly the younger might enjoy a productive spell on the square's edge.

Heel of the hunt, though, you cannot make an outright case for an upset. Too many elements must go wrong for the champions. Heel of the punt, you could not back the outsiders with conviction. Their midfield and half-forwards all but disappeared in the second half against Waterford, before Corbett's goal shunted the locomotive back on track.

Yet some hunch of the gut says this contest will be rather closer than the bookmakers allow. If Tipperary can score two goals and deny Cork one, they should take it. Idle moments, this observer gets to thinking they may just manage it. Paul Curran, at full back, should bolster matters.

The Rebel forwards, overall, are not going that great.

Having not played particularly well, the Premiers now enjoy home advantage (and one man's waxing genius). Again, there is no real pressure on them, it being much of a muchness as to which county Tipperary draw for the quarter-final.

A serious performance could escape the tank. Paradoxically, blue and gold's biggest advantage will be knowledge that red and white are seven to 10 points a better team. There will be no illusions. Correspondingly, the Leesiders will do well to retain iron focus in such a context. Played smart, hurling is so mesmerisingly quick that all things are possible.

But Cork will covet their aura of invincibility. Idle thoughts should become, inflecting Michael Cleary's reservations, pointless spontaneity.

Something like 1-19 to 1-16.

PM O'Sullivan is an academic and a hurling writer, whose column The Stubborn Nore appears on www.kilkennycats.com.