Younger legs and renewed hunger edge it for Tipperary

The “Dream Final”, part three: after the great finals of the last two years between these counties, there is a great sense of anticipation. There’s very little to separate the teams and I expect whoever emerges with the Liam MacCarthy Cup to have edged the match rather than to run away with it.

From the time that the final whistle went in last year’s decider – and even going down to the floodlit league match between the two in Thurles back in February – this was the match-up that nearly everyone was expecting and the respective semi-final performances, which were sub-par, have actually only served to add to the intrigue.

Also intriguing is the Kilkenny selection. TJ Reid has struggled to fit in at midfield so it’s not too surprising that he’s been demoted and I think he’ll be better coming off the bench. But given that Eddie Brennan’s scoring threat has been on the wane for the past year, I can only assume that he’s picked to contest ball with Pádraic Maher and free up Michael Rice to resume his successful midfield partnership with Michael Fennelly.

And with Colin Fennelly selected after what sounded like a difficult hamstring injury, there are question marks about Kilkenny down the right side of the attack.

Tipperary steamrolled their way through Munster and Kilkenny did the same in Leinster. There has been some suggestion that both Tipperary and Kilkenny trained through the All-Ireland semi-finals or at least in to the week coming up to the games and that explained the below-par performances.

I’m not entirely sure about such an argument, but the bottom line is that they both managed to get the job done as far as the scoreboard was concerned and, now, they are back facing each other in the match that matters more than any other in the year.

I have doubts that we’ll get a classic like the finals in 2009 and 2010 given the performances in the semi-finals, but I still expect it will be fought unbelievably tightly and closely and it will be a savage game really.

Tipperary are obviously favourites with the bookies and that is justifiable, but not to the heavy odds-on extent that they are making them.

Tipperary were outstanding through Munster. But was that because they really were outstanding? Or was it because of the opposition? There were moments against Clare when they conceded early goals and Clare had a run on them before Tipp got very soft goals which allowed them to redress the situation. And, the Waterford match was a non-event.

In the previous two years, Tipperary were on an upward trend going into the final and, for the last two years, their best games were reserved for the finals.

This year, the performance against Dublin is out of sync with that pattern.

However, I think Tipperary will have learnt a lot from the semi-final. That was a difficult game. Everyone expected them to win, the fans had written off Dublin and it was hard to get the players’ minds on the job.

But I also thought they showed laziness, which is a typical second-year syndrome for Tipperary after winning an All-Ireland final and they weren’t able to shake themselves out of that lethargy and ultimately when the big test came there was a kink somewhere. Against Dublin, Tipperary effectively replaced five forwards and ball winning became a major problem for them.

And that will be a key area for Tipperary again tomorrow.

Tipperary must win ball, particularly in the half-forward line, and get it into the full-forward line – but I don’t expect Lar Corbett to do the damage he did last year. Corbett only touched the ball six or seven times and got three goals. He probably touched the ball more in 2009 than he did in 2010, but had a much greater impact in 2010.

The danger area for Tipperary is directly in front of goal and that’s where they will ultimately try to expose Kilkenny. That will be their route to success again because Corbett and Eoin Kelly are the key goal scorers.

I think the key battle tomorrow will be between the Kilkenny half back line and the Tipperary half forwards. Tommy Walsh, who was clearly injured going into last year’s final, is revitalised, but it is Brian Hogan’s presence at centre back that is so important to Kilkenny.

In all the discussions about Henry Shefflin’s injury last year, it slipped under the radar that Hogan was a massive loss to them because of his broken finger.

And Tipperary were able to exploit the gaps in that channel to get the ball through to Corbett. And they were able to pull the Kilkenny defence out from goal. When Hogan is playing, they don’t get pulled out that much and offer more protection to Noel Hickey.

Kilkenny have some of the greatest players that have ever played hurling. Noel Hickey. JJ Delaney. Henry Shefflin. These guys have been playing for a long time and there is a feel of the last stand about it for some of these players.

They will have found the hunger and desire from last year’s defeat and I expect the energy levels and desire that were missing in their league final loss to Dublin and that sub-par All-Ireland semi-final win over Waterford to be very much back and for them to be firing on all cylinders.

In the 2009 final, Kilkenny’s Martin Comerford made a huge difference when he came on and, last year, Benny Dunne and Séamus Callanan off the bench made huge impacts for Tipperary.

You have the likes of Brendan Maher on the bench and I think they have the better impact subs at their disposal although the cover is thinnest in the full back line, which makes the concerns about Michael Cahill’s ankle injury all the more worrying.

The two teams are very evenly matched, whether they play at the peak of their powers or as they each did in the semi-finals. There won’t be much between them in either scenario.

But I have a feeling that Tipperary have the younger legs and, if they retain the hunger – and I think they can – they’ll come through.