The Summer is almost over bar the big one! My predictions at the start of the year were, that Cork and Kilkenny would contest this years All-Ireland final again and low and behold have I got it wrong this time. What has been witnessed over the last few weeks has been incredible and what an advertisement it has been for the game of hurling. The quarter-finals were good but the semi-finals were even better. I have already mentioned in previous articles, but it is all about producing the goods in July and August when the knock out stages commenced. Clare and Galway produced their best hurling of the year in the quarter-finals, to beat two rather fancied teams in Tipperary and Wexford. They then went on to greater things by producing fantastic performances in the semi-finals, with Clare losing out to Cork by a single point and Galway producing a display of goal scoring exploits not seen at headquarters for some time. They managed five goals in a championship match which had nine overall - who said hurling was not entertaining this year? Lets take a brief look at the quarter finals first and see where it went wrong for Limerick, Tipperary, Wexford and Waterford. I will then look at the semi finals and give my verdict on the final pairing of Cork and Galway. Cork v Waterford It has to be said that Waterford had the winning of this game within their grasp for long periods and made the Rebels work very hard for their victory. For me there were two crucial issues which had a huge impact on this game. Firstly the performance of Seamus Prendergast at centre forward on Ronan Curran was crucial. Ronan has been the most consistent of centre backs in the last two years but found the height and strength of Seamus a real handful, particularly when he started running at the Cork defence and found holes right through the centre. The turning point for me was the Brian Corcoran goal because it came at a time when Cork were struggling badly and needed a bit of inspiration. There is no doubt in my mind that it was the winning score as it lifted the rest of the team around him, particularly upfront, and during a five minute period the match was put beyond Waterford. Clare v Wexford Not many would have predicted there was a performance like this in Clare, even though Wexford failed to turn up at all. Wexford seem to have a problem in putting back to back championship perfromances together and if Clare togged out in black and amber stripes, it might have spurred them on to greater things. On this occasion they gave way to a very determined and hard working Clare outfit who seemed to have a spring in their step after defeating Waterford in the last qualifier game. Make no mistake about it - the old boys were back performing at their very best. Brian Lohan, Sean McMahon and Colin Lynch answered many critics with the quality of their play. They also justified their manager's decision to include them and try and gel them with the younger generation. Kilkenny v Limerick Nobody gave Limerick a chance of winning this one and from early on it looked like it was going to be a stroll in the park for the Cats as Limerick failed to take the chances presented to them. A gap was beginning to develop but crucially for Limerick no goal was been conceded which meant they were still in the game at half time after playing poorly. Kilkenny could not have been happy either as a lot of their players were waiting for things to happen and they seemed very complacent. If Limerick had not been so overawed by the occasion in the first half it might have been a different story. The second half showed what they are capable of and the strength of the team was in defence where the half back line grew in stature, particularly Peter Lawlor, and this seemed to give a new lease of life to others all over the field. There were clear indications though that Kilkenny needed improvement ahead of their semi-final. Tipperary v Galway We must give credit where it is due, Galway won a game here which seemed to be gone from them with 10 minutes to go and how the Tipp boys managed to lose it has caused a lot of unrest in the Premier County. Croke Park is made for players with pace and when the game opened up in the second half, the Tribesmen had it in abundance and they also had the necessary leaders to stand up to the test and take the game to Tipp. It was a clear sign that this was a Galway side going places. The All Ireland semi finals were a feast of hurling - where would we be without it? Cork v Clare Not a game for the faint hearted with Clare out of the blocks very early and it was obvious that they were organised very well to counter the Cork game plan and short passing tactic. For 60 minutes of this match it worked to perfection and there is no doubting that Clare looked like they were going to win this game early in the second half - they were hurling like the Clare of old and scored some excellent points. Cork were struggling for long periods and when you see great players like Brian Corcoran and Ronan Curran depart the scene after being outplayed, one sensed it needed individual brilliance by one or two players for Cork to turn this game on its head. Those two players for me were Gerry O'Connor and Tom Kenny, both of whom showed remarkable levels of fitness to tear open the Clare defence and lay on the important scores to nudge Cork ahead. It was a perfect finish to a brilliant day -only if you were a Rebel! Clare had this game for the winning and obviously were very disappointed with the end result but they can take a lot of credit for their performance and this will give the younger men in the squad something to build on. Anthony Daly will also take a lot of pluses from the year but more importantly he answered a lot of his critics, particularly those inside the county who felt he was not up for the job and that he was too loyal to the older brigade. Galway v Kilkenny The big questions on all our minds were, could Galway repeat their quarter-final performance and secondly, after seven consecutive years on the road at the highest level, did the Cats have the appetite and hunger for more? The answers were quickly spelled out for us - Galway were up for it from the throw in and took the game to Kilkenny, with frightening pace the order of the day. There was an amazing ten minute spell before half time when it looked like the game was over until the Cats never say attitude yielded two goals before the break. What followed in the second half was as good as entertainment as anyone will ever see in Croke Park. It was end to end stuff with goals the order of the day and Galway holding on at the death, on a scoreline of 5-18 to 4-18. We had just witnessed a thriller irrespective of whether some of the goals had been soft or not. And if you were from Galway, it was a brilliant game to win and for Conor Hayes, just like Anthony Daly the previous week, all of his decisions were justified . All Ireland Final - the Rebels against the Tribesmen What a year it has been so far for Galway hurling as they have already defeated Cork in minor, U21 and intermediate All-Ireland semi-finals and the big one is yet to come. If Galway repeat the performance against Kilkenny, they will be very hard to beat. They are the new kids on the block with plenty of youth and experience but will the Cork defence concede 5-18? My answer is no and I feel it will be the Rebels to emerge victorious with the same open game of hurling similar to those played in 1986 and 1990. I would have to say that though - I am a Rebel after all . Tweet

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