Gerald McCarthy, former Cork great and current Waterford coach, is pleased that the "traditional" clash between Cork and Kilkenny will complete the millennium. He sees the match as hinging on the tussle between a strong Cork defence and a very mobile Kilkenny attack.
"Naturally I would love a Cork victory but a match like this is important for all people who love hurling. If the weather is right it could be a really great game. Cork have a very strong defence and Kilkenny a very strong attack. It will all hang on that.
"People say that D J Carey is the key to the situation. He is a great hurler but Kilkenny have several other players who can produce the goods - Charlie Carter, Brian McEvoy and Henry Shefflin could all do a lot of damage if D J was held," he says. The Cork defence will look to Brian Corcoran in particular to spur on the Cork forwards, he believes: "He inspires everyone around him and his surges out of attack and his long clearances to the forwards are very important to the entire team effort.
"Cork have a tremendous back line and Kilkenny a very strong attack. That is where, I believe the match will be decided. All six Kilkenny forwards are capable of getting scores. A lot has been said about D J and John Power but Brian McEvoy had a tremendous match in the semi-final and the others are all likely to spring up if colleagues are closed down. "A lot will depend on the PowerCorcoran clash on the 40. If Power can curtail Corcoran's influence it could be a deciding factor in the match but the nature of hurling is that, if one aspect of the game works out even, there is always the chance that things develop elsewhere which can have a big influence on the way the match will go," he says. McCarthy remembers vividly his several years with Cork. "It was great to play with guys like Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Ray Cummins, Tim Crowley and Seanie O'Leary. You can't forget that. It stays with you for ever. It was a treat, particularly the three-in-a-row.
"Jimmy Barry was special. He could turn the game around in a couple of minutes. I'm sure that he has a huge effect on the present team. He will have put steel in the Cork team but, even so, Kilkenny will always be hard to beat. I think the Kilkenny side may be a bit cocky and this could have an influence in they way the approach the game. "It's hard to keep players on the straight and narrow in these situations. They are well known in their own communities and they have to listen to all sorts of talk about how they should play and that sort of thing. But it is part of the game and different players react differently to those kind of pressures so you can't cater for it," he says.
