We all agree Munster hurling is still magic

Mostly Hurling:What a weekend of action we had. Is Thurles not the perfect venue? We travelled by train mid afternoon on Saturday. Irish Rail's hourly service to Dublin is a godsend. The Limerick followers who boarded at the Junction were quite animated. The fan who sat next to us reckoned they should have beaten us last year. So this was definitely going to be their year.

The town didn't have the same noise and colour it has when both teams are travelling. Nevertheless, while the atmosphere was low-key there was a kind of calm before the storm feeling abroad. There was much speculation on the home side's line-out all the week. Then word was filtering through that Babs was after getting a machete to last Sunday's team. Brendan Cummins was being replaced in goals. Benny Dunne was going from centre back to centre forward. Ryan O'Dwyer, Pa Bourke and Willie Ryan were dropped from the forward line and Séamus Butler and Lar Corbett were starting. Conor O'Mahony was going to centre back and Hugh Maloney was coming on at wing back. It was almost of ethnic cleansing proportions.

When the team was actually announced in the stadium a Tipp fan nearby reckoned they'd be a management cleansing if the new team didn't win. By half-time there was talk of canonisation for miracle worker Babs. Halfway into the second half he was back in detention again.

What a turnabout! Even with five minutes to go we still couldn't see the home side losing. A trickle of fans made their way towards the exits. But by the end of normal time the sides were level.

Then an announcement came over the tannoy: "There will be two periods of 10 minutes of extra-time. If the teams are still level the replay will be in the Gaelic Grounds, Limerick next weekend."

In the teams went to "regroup", as all the best mentors say.

They came out again five minutes later. The referee checked his watches and was just in the act of throwing the sliotar in when the tannoy announcer piped up again "In the event of the game finishing level . . ."

At that point I thought we're definitely heading for another draw. I recently heard magician Keith Barry explain how he subliminally plants ideas in people's heads when he is doing card tricks. For a moment I wondered if the magician was doing a gig in Thurles for the Munster Council on the night.

In extra-time the players were dropping like flies from exhaustion and cramp. The game ebbed and flowed. Tipp got an early goal, but it wasn't enough. Andrew O'Shaughnessy, who had a little earlier put a 65 wide, was as cool as you like slotting over the equaliser.

Keith collected his money and we all stood there mesmerised. Babs was released again after some serious questioning and Richie (Bennis) hopped around like a gadding cow.

The rival fans interacted like pilgrims who had walked the 700-kilometre Camino De Santiago and were just after reaching the cathedral in the Spanish city, exhausted but exhilarated.

Referee Brian Gavin can be very pleased with his handling of this epic. He showed a lot of commonsense and generally was well up with the play.

One of the downsides of the draw was the team who loses the replay will have to play six weekends in a row.

Who will win the next day?

Keith likes the word Limerick. He's using it a lot these days. Limerick . . . Limerick . . . Limerick.

A text later on informed that Cork had lost the appeal to the DRA (Disputes Resolution Authority) so the team chosen would be the team to start Sunday's game against Waterford.

From early morning the town was buzzing. Friends Joe Carroll and Richard Pardi were almost in time for first mass in the cathedral. We met a couple who had driven from Mayo and who were parked by 10 o'clock. The Déise fans we spoke to were fearful that, in adversity, Cork might win the day even though their lads were favourites.

The four o'clock start leaves much time to kill. The intermediate game didn't reach any great heights so the match programme was scanned from cover to cover.

There was speculation the Cork followers mightn't travel in the huge numbers we've become used to. But they did and the team didn't disappoint.

It was a perfect day for hurling, not much wind, dry, and not too warm.

John Mullane's point after eight seconds gave Waterford the perfect start. Ben O'Connor's sideline score from all of 52 metres fired up Cork and from then on we had as many scores as you'd see in the full Premiership on a good weekend.

Five minutes before the half-time break we were settling for a draw. In a twinkling, Waterford were two goals up. Ten minutes into the second half the teams were level again. Except for Eoin Kelly's goal, the game was fairly even right to the end. The proven heroes were all to the fore - McGrath, Kelly, Mullane, Shanahan, Browne, Curran, the O'Connors, Kenny, Deane, Murphy.

With time almost up, the woodwork saved Waterford as Donal Óg's woodwork had saved Cork the previous August.

This was another epic.

Waterford won't be overly pleased, though. They won, but too many of their players underperformed. I don't think they would fancy a rematch.

Cork, on the other hand, will take much from the game. They again showed that when September comes they won't be too far from the top table. Five players made their championship debuts. They finished the game with only six of last September's starting 15. They scored three goals.

Barry Kelly showed again that he is fast becoming the best hurling referee in the country. When the referee doesn't figure in the radio phone-ins on Sunday and Monday night it a very good sign and this weekend the talk was of the scores and the scorers.

Yes, indeed, hurling is alive and well and living in Munster. So Keith says anyway.