Gaelic Games: In the space of four years the world has turned pleasantly for DJ Carey. Before the last Cork-Kilkenny final in 1999, his hurling career was still slightly in the shadow of that sensational - and subsequently recanted - retirement 18 months previously, writes Sean Moran

Even the 1999 final would be seen as part of the hangover. After a prolific campaign, he didn't score during the narrow defeat. The performance was catalogued as evidence of Carey's unhappy record in All-Ireland finals - a casual dismissal not really consistent with his three outings in the early 1990s.

But since then he has added two further All-Ireland medals, both won after free-wheeling finals and three years ago picked up his second hurler of the year gong. Next Sunday he may add one more honour to a glittering career by captaining Kilkenny to yet another championship.

For added symmetry he gets the chance to atone for the Cork defeat in 1999 against the same opposition. It has always been a feature of Carey's attitude that just as he is unassuming about his achievements he is also a little combative about those phases of his career that haven't gone so well.

The hope in Kilkenny is that what has been a fairly dull season by his own standards will be illuminated with some fireworks in the final, similar to those he provided last year and in 2000. Typically he sees his current lack of prominence as a liberation.

"I'm now part of six forwards and don't have to be scoring 2-6, 2-7 in every match in the hope of trying to win. There's no doubt you enjoy your hurling more.

"You have to do your bit wherever you play but when you have guys who can snap up the ball and put it between the posts it means that I won't be watched as closely because everyone else has to be. That's a certain amount of pressure moving away from me."

The spectre of the 1999 final is straight out of the historical gallery of Cork-Kilkenny matches - the defeat of red-hot favourites. Maybe the achievements since then have restored his equanimity but Carey is happy to leave the experience in the past and doesn't even wave it around as motivation.

"It's very difficult to learn a lesson from a defeat like that except that you don't want it to happen again. I didn't score but that's the way it goes and we had our chances to win. There's not much more you can say except that Cork had the bit between their teeth at the end of the game and beat us. We didn't finish Cork off when we were ahead."

This weekend is almost a rerun of that final, with the main difference being that Kilkenny are, if anything, even more strongly fancied. Yesterday, the Leinster champions were on offer on Paddy Power's website at 1 to 2. Carey doesn't try to deconstruct the odds.

"We were favourites last year as well and fairly strong favourites. Being favourites is something we can't do anything about. We've played well all along and have dominated.

"There's no point in saying we're not favourites. We are and we accept that. All we can do is get our own heads right. There's pressure on us but if any Cork man goes up without pressure on him, he's not prepared for an All-Ireland final."

Apart from awesome form Kilkenny's high rating owes something to Cork's less certain displays. The side hasn't emerged from Munster since 2000 and has had a manager a year since then. Donal O'Grady became the latest coach after the turbulence of last year's players' strike forced the departure of Bertie Murphy.

Carey believes the flames of that controversy have forged a stronger team.

"In my opinion they did the only thing they could do. They put their heads on the block and came out. When you've that sort of spirit - ready to put their heads on the block for one other - you've the basis of a very good team because no one will ever doubt the ability of a Cork player on the field. In a lot of good teams it's all about spirit. So I'd no doubt that they would have a very good year."

Facing into his eighth final with the prospect of a fifth success, Carey's medal haul is finally beginning to reflect his eminence in the modern game. But the long hiatus after his early triumphs has taught him about the impermanence of such things.

"We had a very good team in 1992-93 but it was another seven years before I won another All-Ireland. That can happen and it could happen again because there are teams out there chomping at the bit.

"I mean who would have said in 1999 that Cork wouldn't be around for a long time? They had a very young team and yet they struggled up to this year."

He doesn't believe captaincy brings any further responsibilities but accepts that lifting the Liam MacCarthy Cup would be a welcome new entry on an already lengthy CV.

"It would cap a career," he says, before quickly adding, "although I fully intend to keep going."