The impending championship fixture in four weeks' time enhances the natural allure of the pairing in tomorrow's Allianz National Hurling League final. It remains to be seen whether this is enough to allay public suspicion about the bona fides of the event but this, the most vivid of modern hurling rivalries, has been given a new lease of life by the current good form of the counties.
Both had emphatic victories in last week's semi-finals but in qualified circumstances. Kilkenny were half-strength for the Thurles meeting and Galway were well off the pace against Tipperary. This highlighted one of the competition's anomalies, the completely different championship schedules of various counties.
The date of June 3rd rattled around Tipp's dressingroom like a pinball last week whereas Galway manager Noel Lane was at pains to stress that they wouldn't begin the championship until July 29th. Consequently they were at an entirely different point of their training cycle. Given Galway's evident inability to be at match pitch in April and again in July, there was no contest. At least tomorrow's finalists are in a roughly similar state of preparedness. Although neither side can be thrilled at the prospect of having to play this close to championship, Clare selector Louis Mulqueen made the following cheery observation before the semi-final: "If we played Tipp in the final, whoever lost would learn a good bit and it would be great for the confidence of whoever won."
Whatever about boosting their confidence, the counties are unlikely to want their opponents learning very much from the encounter. Aside from these arcane reflections, it has to be said that Tipp look better.
Some of their forward play was exuberant and dazzling and made a nonsense of the comparatively tight seven-point winning margin. Short of disaster, this is likely to be the championship attack. How keen can they be to show all their tricks this weekend?
That isn't intended to be a rhetorical question. Last week Tipperary went at it hell-for-leather, with no obvious concession to underplaying their hand and may want to stamp their authority on Clare.
Afterwards Nicky English was at pains to acknowledge that his young forwards Eoin Kelly and Lar Corbett had yet to meet defenders like the Clare championship full-back line. They'll get a flavour of it this weekend and it will be interesting to see how they get on.
There is a suggestion that Clare are pacing their progress towards next month more deliberately than their opponents. If so, this is a benefit of experience. With one or two exceptions Cyril Lyons knows his championship line-out.
Tipperary have new players fitting in and anxious to show their paces straightforwardly and without artifice, a fact widely unappreciated, not least here, before the semi-final. The team's centrefield is undecided which means that there'll be a certain amount of playing for a championship place. Tommy Dunne will definitely be needed here or in the forwards but Conor Gleeson, having staked a reasonable claim last week, now renews battle in this sector among the same four protagonists from the 1997 All-Ireland final.
The experienced Clare players have looked re-invigorated in recent weeks but didn't appear to be at full tilt last Sunday and probably won't be this weekend either. There are long-term concerns as well. Aside from the strong spine of Niall Gilligan and James O'Connor, how cast-iron reliable are the other forwards?
Furthermore there is always a fundamental doubt over the ability of teams to ride out the passage of years and reverse obvious signs of decline but tomorrow is unlikely to provide much indication one way or the other.
On the evidence of last week, Tipperary should win. Even going back over the weeks, the team has shown great attacking promise against Kilkenny and Cork. Clare will test that promise but not as relevantly as they will in a month's time.
