The big one - The predictions of earlier in the season have now been fulfilled with the Cats eager to halt the Rebel County's search of another All-Ireland victory in the first week of September. Looking back at the All-Ireland semi-finals, it has to be said that the two best teams have progressed and as provincial winners, it underlines the strength of both counties and how they have managed to cope with everything that put in their paths on the way to the decider. Waterford are probably still wondering what do they have to do to win an All-Ireland and to beat Cork. All they can say to themselves is that they did not do too much wrong and need to keep at it, as their day in the sun is surely just around the corner. They must remember their harsh lessons in Munster where they suffered so much heartache before eventual success. The secret is to keep learning from the mistakes and be positive towards the future rather than dwell on any negative vibes. There is so much talent in their squad but talent alone will not win it for you. Every hurling follower throughout the country would love to see Waterford win an All-Ireland, including myself, but they are going to find it twice as hard again next year as other teams will feel they have as good a chance also. Cork will be the first to admit that their game with Waterford could have gone either way and it was in the balance right up to the last puck. They will have been happy to come through this by a point and will also be very happy with some of the individual performances throughout the field. Most notably with goalkeeper Donal Og Cusack who gave one of the most assured performances for a long time in Croke Park. His ball handling skills were immense and his use of the puck out with its variation put Waterford under constant pressure. When the need was greatest, he pulled the sliothar out of the sky and stopped it from going over the bar for the equalising point. Ronan Curran at centre back has come to the rescue so many times before but in the last 10 minutes of this game he gave arguably his finest performance in a Cork jersey. Not alone was he catching clean ball from the air but he was bursting out of defence with it and setting up attack after attack A man who came in for some severe criticism by the Cork public is Timmy McCarthy and his performance the last day answered a lot of his knockers, but he will have to repeat that form the next day if Cork are to win. The champions know that they have to improve and that they are sailing close to the wind with all these one point victories. They will also be aware that they have not produced a fifteen man performance yet this year and it will take only that to win this final. Big games need big players performing and if the likes of Donal Og, Sean Og and the O'Connors turn on the style, it will take a very good performance to beat them. But there is of course more than one team in this final and Kilkenny are getting better as the year progresses, building a team of real quality hurlers in the process. They were awesome for long periods against Galway in the quarter-final and against Clare they showed great maturity. They were in many ways like Cork, because with ten minutes to go this game was still in the melting pot and could have gone either way, but when it mattered most Kilkenny opened a six point lead from nowhere, scoring point after point. This team has the killer instinct and when the gaps started to appear in the Clare defence, there was no better team in the country than the Cats to exploit it. Putting Henry Shefflin to centre forward on Seanie McMahon, who appeared tired, was the final piece of the jigsaw as he had played in three other positions before then and played well, but centre forward for me is where he belongs. When all else around him were missing opportunities, Shefflin missed none and to end up with 1-13 was some achievement - Cork have been warned. But it is not all a one man show and Cork would be very foolish to think it is, as Kilkenny had some other great performers and a man who has got a new lease of life since moving to midfield is Cha Fitzpatrick. Modern hurling has now shown that you need ball players rather than bulk now around the middle of the park and they do not come any better than Cha. Eddie Brennan has also got s spring in his step playing at wing forward rather than inside and he seems to enjoy the freedom and space to move up and down the wing. It will be interesting also to see if John Tennyson can regain fitness for the final as he was having a very good season at centre back and all in Kilkenny will be hoping he can make it. It has the ingredients to be a very good final with both eager to put one over the enemy. Cork are going for three in a row will have to carry all the pressure and expectations that go with it, they have managed to do it so far this year and as a Corkman I hope they will keep the best wine until last. On the other hand Kilkenny will be very happy to be underdogs and at times that can be a very good thing in preparing and motivating a team. They also have the added incentive of knowing that Cork were the team to put a dent in their three in row aspirations a few years back. Let's hope that it is a classic, the hurling year deserves it although I am hoping for only one winner of course! The minor All-Ireland I have watched all these games this year and I must say the standard of hurling has been excellent with Galway now going for three in a row of titles and young Joe Canning on the same mission. They had an excellent win against a fancied Cork side in the semi-final and the question is can Tipperary stop them? I have been impressed with this team all year - they put in a very good display in the Munster Final even while losing to Cork and bouncing back on a high note against Kilkenny after conceding three goals. Young Patrick Bourke in the corner looks like one for the future and we will keep an eye on him JJ Delaney As I am finishing my last few lines, I have just heard of the injury to JJ Delaney and it wouldn't be right of me not to mention this and say how cruel sport can be at times. Just when the player is preparing for the most important game of the season, he is struck down with a serious injury. JJ has been a fantastic player for Kilkenny and will be badly missed but more importantly now is his operation and his recovery and I am sure we all wish him well and hope to see him back in a black and amber jersey sooner rather than later. Tweet

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