Walsh the only real Kilkenny concern

All-Ireland SHC Final/ Kilkenny name team:

For the first time this summer Kilkenny appear set to go into a championship game with an unchanged team - provided Tommy Walsh can prove his fitness in the next 48 hours.

That the game is Sunday's All-Ireland hurling final at Croke Park suggests this is the team which manager Brian Cody has been building towards all season.

For now, however, Cody had left the left wing forward position vacant, giving Walsh every opportunity to get over the hip injury that has limited his training for the past 12 days.

If they go with the same starting line-up which defeated Tipperary in last month's semi-final, Kilkenny will also follow opponents Cork, who on Tuesday night announced an unchanged team from their semi-final win over Wexford.

Such a similar vote of confidence from the Kilkenny manager was expected. Their 12-point win over Tipperary was as clinical as it was impressive, and it always seemed likely that Cody would resist the temptation or see any reason for change.

Yet Walsh has been a major injury concern for Cody, and a final fitness test tomorrow evening will decide whether or not he will play. It was during an accidental collision with Martin Comerford at training last Friday week that Walsh sustained the injury. He fell heavily and awkwardly, injuring his hip.

Part of his rehabilitation has been the use of an oxygen chamber in Maynooth, which speeds up the healing process.

The 20-year-old from Tullaroan had started in all Kilkenny's championship games to date, but Cody was not prepared to name him until he was certain he was at his best. The very fact that he has hesitated indicates his desire to get Walsh into the starting line-up.

In previous games Cody has been quick to make any necessary adjustments, making four changes from the team that beat Dublin for the Leinster final against Wexford, and another change for the semi-final against Tipperary.

Kilkenny's successful National League campaign was also notable for the regular changes in the starting line-ups.

The only other injury worry surrounded corner back James Ryall, but last night he was passed fit to play. Ryall had sustained a minor shoulder injury in training, although that was never deemed serious enough to rule him out. His positioning at left corner back was crucial too, with his size and strength perfectly matched for Cork's Setanta Ó hAilpín.

Jimmy Coogan is one of the players waiting in the wings should Walsh miss out, and had also replaced him in the semi-final. It was Coogan, incidentally, who marked the sole change in the Kilkenny team before last year's final against Clare, replacing the now retired Brian McEvoy.

Kilkenny team v Cork

1 James McGarry (Bennetsbridge) 2 Michael Kavanagh 3 Noel Hickey 4 James Ryall (Dunnamaggin) (Graigue-Ballycallan) 5 Sean Dowling 6 Peter Barry 7 JJ Delaney (O'Loughlin Gaels) (James Stephens) (Fenians) 8 Derek Lyng 9 Paddy Mullally (Emeralds) (Glenmore) 10 John Hoyne 11 Henry Shefflin 12 AN Other (Graigue-Ballycallan) (Ballyhale Shamrocks) (-) 13 DJ Carey 14 Martin Comerford 15 Eddie Brennan (Young Irelands) (O'Loughlin Gaels) (Graigue-Ballycallan)

SUBSTITUTES: PJ Ryan (Fenians), Philip Larkin (James Stephens), Ken Coogan (Tullaroan), Aidan Cummins (Ballyhale Shamrocks), Andy Comerford (O'Loughlin Gaels), Conor Phelan (Clara), Jimmy Coogan (Tullaroan), Pat Tennyson (Carrickshock), Walter Burke (Mullinavat), Stephen Grehan (Fenians), Jackie Tyrrell (James Stephens), Brian Dowling (O'Loughlin Gaels), A Fogarty (Emeralds)