We are now in the slipstream of a hurling final which if unrepresentative of the decade drawing to a close, embodies the game and its development since the foundation of the GAA. Cork and Kilkenny will be meeting for the 18th time in an All-Ireland final on Sunday week (the 19th time if you count the 1903 home final - which Kilkenny would probably rather not - won by Cork with a bit to spare, 8-9 to 0-8.

Whereas there has been great and genuine rejoicing in recent years at the emergence of Clare and the re-emergence of Wexford, it has to be remembered that the game needs to thrive in its strongest counties as well.

After as democratic a decade's football as any could have imagined, the fact that Kerry, Dublin and Galway (top three on the roll of honour) also won All-Irelands was welcome if only for setting the various breakthroughs in the context of the game's history and traditions.

So it should be with hurling. Clare reserved their highest-voltage performances for the traditional counties, Cork, Tipperary and Kilkenny, for the very reason that Ger Loughnane understood posterity's need to judge his team against the game's leading brand names.

Hurling's rocketing profile in recent years was partially the product of new counties competing for top honours, but it is important in the broader scheme of things that the advances made in public interest are sufficiently well grounded to survive a resorgimento in Cork and Kilkenny.

Last week, the subject of teams' rankings over a decade prompted a lively response. One Kilkenny correspondent pointed out - with some justification - that the county's achievements seem fated to be overlooked. They may end up with more 1990s All-Irelands than anyone, but Clare will remain the team most people associate with the decade.

Then there was their double (League and championship) in the 1980s which was overshadowed by Galway's and Offaly's rise to prominence. In the 1970s, it is conceivable but for injury (pace Limerick) that Kilkenny would have won four All-Irelands in a row instead of three in four years. Instead Cork won three-in-a-row and headed off into history with the decade in their pocket.

Kilkenny's is a remarkable story. With their tiny population base, they are the century's most enduringly successful hurling county. Both Cork and Tipperary won a fistful of All-Irelands before the turn of the century and so have had to put up with periods of drought within the last 100 years.

Never having had to suffer more than 10 years without an All-Ireland, Kilkenny's strike-rate since winning their first in 1904 (well, 1905 but championships seemed always to be a year late back then) has been better than one every four years.

The recurrence of Cork-Kilkenny finals is also remarkable: one every six-and-a-half years. Given that the last meeting was in 1992, next week's is therefore bang on time.

"Whoever scores the most is the winner. That's how the winner is decided," is one of the quotes attributed to DJ Carey in Brendan Fullam's Legends of the Ash. As his generation's greatest scorer, Carey might be expected to hold such blunt views on the primacy of the scoreboard, but the words are also highly significant in the context of history.

On five occasions in their final clashes, Kilkenny have won by the narrowest of margins. ("We lost to Kilkenny by the usual point," was Jack Lynch's weary summation of one of his unsuccessful finals).

Kilkenny's 1912 victory over Cork at Croke Park, 2-1 to 1-3, was achieved by virtue of what was described as a "soft goal with the last puck of the match". The winners were hailed by Tom Semple, Tipperary captain, hurling legend and inspiration for Thurles's eponymous stadium, in the following terms: "Kilkenny are the luckiest team in Ireland today or any other day. They are All-Ireland champions and that is the thing that matters".

They were champions for the sixth time in nine years and would make it seven in 10 the following season - an inaugural run of success which formed a typically productive statement of intent.

One of its architects was Sim Walton, who, as well as playing a central attacking role ("And there goes Walton, the posts assaulting" - in the words of a catchy ballad of the time) in the seven triumphs, had shown commendable vision after his first All-Ireland had ended in the terrifying 25-point blitz by Cork in 1903.

As secretary of the Tullaroan club, he had a major say in the composition of the following year's team and rising above sectional interests, he invited players from Mooncoin, Piltown and Threecastles to join the Tullaroan contingent. The result was the county's first All-Ireland achieved against Cork - an extraordinary 26-point turnaround in 12 months.

The very first All-Ireland meeting between the counties was in 1893 and scheduled for the Ashtown Trotting Ground in the Phoenix Park. On arrival, the teams refused to play because they found the grass to be 12 inches high - conditions airily dismissed by Michael Cusack.

The GAA founder had inspected the field a couple of days previously and declared it "as much a hindrance to one side as the other". A Cork official, Michael Deering, took a less laissez faire attitude as the mood of the spectators threatened to get ugly.

Deering suggested that the goalposts be moved to an adjacent field and eventually the match was played with Cork winning in a hack, 68 to 0-2.

The keen rivalry between the counties was etched into legend in the 1930s despite the fact that they only met twice. The 1931 final took three matches to separate the teams and attracted record crowds which established hurling as a mass-spectator sport.

Eight years later, on the day second World War broke out, the "Thunder and Lightning" final was won by Kilkenny by the usual point.

Since the outstanding Cork side of the 1940s defeated Kilkenny in 1946, the Leinster county has won six of the eight finals between the counties. Cork's two win were significant: in 1966 a team flush with under-21s (sounds familiar) beat raging favourites Kilkenny to bridge a 12-year gap since their previous title.

In 1978, Cork's most recent victory completed the last three-in-a-row achieved by any county and the only time this century a Cork treble or four-in-a-row has featured a win over Kilkenny.

The trend says Kilkenny, but Cork are due one on the law of averages - inasmuch as the concept has any meaning for these counties.