Richie hoping to Power Cats to his sixth All-Ireland Senior medal.

While there's no shortage of All-Ireland Senior hurling medals in Kilkenny and indeed in Carrickshock and the Power household - Richie Jnr. is hoping to pick up his sixth Celtic Cross this weekend and that nothing can replace that feeling once the Liam MacCarthy Cup is annexed.

"It's the day in Irish sport which every inter-county Senior team sets out to be in at the beginning of the year," he said.

"We are no different every year we go out. This year it's a repeat of the Leinster final as people will say and I don't think it has happened too often over the years that the provincial finalists have reached the All-Ireland final.

"It's an All-Ireland final and we are going to prepare for it as best we can and as if we were going to meet any team. It just happens to be Galway. It's a one off game and it's winner takes all on the day."

While 26-year old Richie has experienced plenty of the boom-times for Kilkenny hurling in the past decade, it was with a realistic wake-up call he began his Senior exploits when the Cats crashed out to Galway at the All-Ireland semi-final stage on the way to their last All-Ireland final appearance in 2005.

"I joined the Kilkenny Senior panel in 2005 and Galway beat us in the All-Ireland semi-final the same year," he said.

"I suppose every year since we have been lucky enough to be contesting the All-Ireland final. It's been an amazing time for the Kilkenny supporters and for all the players involved."

But no one wants to be second best, even in Kilkenny where All-Ireland medals are a currency.

"At the end of the day it is no good being in an All-Ireland final unless you win it and we are no different preparing for this game," he said.

"We'll try and prepare as best we possibly can in the build up to the game You just hope that things go right on the day."

The same mantra applies to any game the Cats are involved in, and Power and his colleagues were thankful of a second bite at the cherry following the Leinster final loss.

"It was the first year for some of the players involved to experience the whole back-door system. We were thankful we just got another chance to put things right," Power said.

"We had an All-Ireland quarter-final and we prepared as best we could for that game and then obviously we had the semi-final against Tipperary.

"They are all massive games and when you get into Championship hurling you take every game as if it will be your last. You play every game as if it is an All-Ireland final.

"That's what we done this year with every game. Galway were outstanding in the Leinster final this year. The performance they put in was unbelievable and we have no complaints on the day. We definitely weren't just let hurl and we had no answer to it.

"That's all credit to Galway and the way they prepared for the game and we are expecting nothing less in the final. It's just up to ourselves to get up to that standard."

Kilkenny bounced back to take an All-Ireland quarter-final win over Limerick and Power says that it was a game in which each player wanted to prove that they were better than the displays in the Leinster showpiece.

"I think after the Leinster final a lot of the players wanted a game to be able to try and put things right. I know I personally was very disappointed with my own performance and I know a lot of the other guys were as well just from talking about the game.

"They were disappointed and just really wanted to get going again. Trying to put things right the next day. We were pushed to the pin of our collar again against Limerick. Limerick done all of the hurling in the first 35 minutes and luckily enough we went in a point up at half-time.

"Thankfully in the second half we got two goals and it killed the game off."

Power says that a lot of credit must go this year's captain Eoin Larkin for the leadership he has displayed this season.

"'Lark's' is an unbelievable captain and he has been all year. The one major thing that 'Larks' brings to the whole thing is just his savage overall work-rate.

"It's absolutely phenomenal even on the training field. On match-day he just constantly, constantly goes and gives everything that he possibly can for the team. The whole team is not about individuals, but 'Larks' really pushes himself to the pin of his own collar.

"It's great to see that and to see your team mates doing exactly what you are doing it really pushes you on and encourages you to go that extra bit."

One team-mate that won't be there is Power's club and county colleague Michael Rice who fractured his finger in seven places during the semi-final win over Tipperary.

Power says he is a major loss for the final.

"Michael is a clubmate of mine and a very good friend of mine as well. It's very disappointing to see any player missing out on an All-Ireland final," he said.

"It's the biggest day of Irish sport and you want all of the best hurlers in the country to be present on the day and to be on show. It's heart-breaking for Michael. Even talking to him you would see it in him that it is breaking his heart. It's an extra motivation for ourselves - the guys who can be there on the day; to maybe do it for him and to show that the whole years training won't come to a disappointing end."

And after a tight opening half to their eventual All-Ireland semi-final win over Tipperary last time out, Power revealed that former captain Rice was an inspirational force in ensuring the Cats were fired up for the second half - something that certainly materialised as they went on to steamroll their opponents and book an All-Ireland final berth.

"Michael said a few words to us at half-time in the semi-final and I think he hit a chord with a lot of the guys. Brian (Cody) had his normal few words and a couple of the players spoke as well. We just knew our game-plan and we didn't change anything differently going out for the second half than we did for the first half. Thankfully we got a couple of goals in quick succession and that killed the game off really.

"I think the big thing in the semi-final was that everyone played for each other. The work-rate from everyone was just outstanding. Forwards were giving the ball to the guy in the best position for a score, the backs were outstanding. I think the overall work-rate by everyone was phenomenal on the day. If you don't have the work-rate you don't have a performance. If you can bring the work-rate and the spirit to it the performance can look after itself."

Power knows he and the rest of the Kilkenny attack will have to be at their very best this weekend against a strong Galway defence.

"You look at Galway this year and in all of their performances they have been outstanding upfront with scoring, but you look at their backs as well who have conceded very little in every game. They have players like Fergal Moore and David Collins and Tony Óg Regan who have been there and done it all.

"I can guarantee you that they are looking forward to this day and we are going to look forward to it also. It's going to be a new challenge and we have to try and prepare to get the upper hand. It's going to be very difficult on the day but we are all there to win an All-Ireland so it is going to be one hell of a battle." Tweet

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