Former Waterford captain Fergal Hartley believes the winners of today's All-Ireland hurling semi-final between Waterford and Tipperary can put it up to Kilkenny in the next month's final.

The Cats are raging hot favourites to complete an historic five-in-a-row, but Hartley insists that the All-Ireland race is not a foregone conclusion.

"They did blow Cork out of the water last week but I don't think Kilkenny will blow Tipp or Waterford out of the water," he said.

"I think both teams will be ready for Kilkenny if an opportunity comes about.

"The first thing to do is get there. Of course it's going to be a difficult task - there is no doubt about it. Generally speaking, I think this (Kilkenny) team is perceived to be one of the greatest - if not the greatest of all-time at this stage.

"It's a huge, huge task, but if you are in a final there is always hope - any team who gets to the final has to be a good team. You can't get to an All-Ireland final without being a good team.
Whether Waterford or Tipperary get there I think they will be going in quite confident, under the radar as complete underdogs.

"Kilkenny are without Henry Shefflin. He's a huge loss - probably one of the two players, himself and Tommy Walsh, that their loss would impact on the Kilkenny team. It's not a concern for anybody at the moment, but whoever gets there I think they will go in with a certain level of confidence.

"They will certainly believe in themselves, the rest of the country won't. But the team themselves will believe that they can do it." Tweet

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