Tony Considine breaks down the key battles in Cork v Limerick

ALL the talk is nearly over now as we move into the biggest event of the hurling year.

Another Munster All-Ireland Final for the second year - this is the fourth time that this has happened.

It just goes to show how strong Munster hurling is and I think will continue to be so for the next number of years with Limerick and Cork to the forefront.

Limerick has been the top team in Munster for the last three years, winning three in a row for the first time since the 1930s.

Cork, of course, have done this a few times in the past and would always consider themselves superior to Limerick Well, they have the titles to prove that. Tradition means a lot in Cork.

I’d say this is the one that is going to be their greatest challenge, as they are coming up against the best team in the country for the last number of years.

Limerick have overpowered teams with their physical power, strength and aggression, and they have some very good hurlers, and playing to a strict game-plan, devised by Paul Kinnerk and company, a plan that has been very successful for them, and a system that is very hard to break down.

Of course, their greatest back-up are the players they have at their disposal. It is alright having all these plans, but you must have the personnel on the field to execute them.

They have a top-class goalkeeper in Nicky Quaid, and he has rescued them several times in the past.

Cork will have to make sure if they are going for goals, as Quaid is not easily beaten. They also have to be very alert to his puck outs which always seem to find their target, which is a very important part of the play now.

He has great cover in front of him, in Sean Finn, Dan Morrissey, Diarmuid Byrnes and one of the players in the running for hurler of the year: Kyle Hayes.

Hayes is a huge player for Limerick, not alone as a defender but as a first-class attacker as well. So Cork will have to stop his raids as he seems to make a lot in every game.

Limerick also have great attackers in Tom Morrissey, Gearoid Hegarty, Aaran Gillane, and Peter Casey, who is a lucky boy to be playing after his red card against Waterford. But the man who gets all these players going, and the conductor of the orchestra is the brilliant Cian Lynch.

If Cork can stop him, or even nullify him a little, they will be well on their way, but that is easier said than done. Remember four of these forwards were taken off the last time Limerick played Cork - if four are taken off Sunday, Cork will be in a winning position.

It is a lot to expect again that Morrissey, Hegarty, Gillane and Seamus Flanagan will have another off day.

Cork come into this All-Ireland as an improving team. Sometimes there are defining moments in a team's progress, and the one that stands out for Cork, and for me, is Patrick Collins’ brilliant save from a Tony Kelly shot in the dying moments of the qualifying game against Clare. Cork two points up... if Collins did not save his shot, Cork were out of the championship.

I remember something similar happening when I was a young lad in 1966 when Clare were three points up in injury time and they gave away a free thirty yards from goal, and Justin McCarthy stepped up and scored a goal, Cork won the replay easily and went on to win the All-Ireland afterwards, their first All-Ireland in 12 years. Can history repeat itself?

Cork are going into this in an ideal way as all the talk will be about Limerick, but All-Irelands are different - it does not matter what you have done before, how well you played, or how badly you played, players that have been performing brilliantly up to now can have an off day, and players that are not expected to perform could be your match-winner.

All Ireland finals do strange things to players - the occasion at times can get to them, Limerick have the experience here, but that still means nothing. Cork do not have that experience, they are a very youthful team with no worries or cares, which is a good thing. They also have great belief in what they do. I think Croke Park suits them.

A lot of talk about what team Cork will put out, and all this talk about you finish with your best team, I do not go with that.

I believe the best 15 should always start, and this is where Kieran Kingston and his management team will have to make the right decisions, or try and make the right decisions. Cork got a lot out of their subs the last day and the main man was Shane Kingston.

I would find it very hard to leave a player of his class on the sideline - who is to say he wouldn’t have performed from the start the last day?

These are big decisions. In my opinion, I would always start a player of his class. Sometimes he can go in and out of a game, but he always scores, and as we all know, scoring forwards win games.

The rest of the team picks itself in my opinion, but my opinion doesn’t matter here, it is what management sees is important. I’m sure they know who is going well.

Horgan, O’Connor, Harnedy, Robbie O’Flynn, Darragh Fitzgibbon... Cork need all these playing well. They need to take on Limerick at every opportunity and use the wide spaces of Croke Park. Battling qualities will be crucial here, that is why guys like Eoin Cadogan, Downey, O’Donoghue, O’Leary, O’Mahony and Coleman will have to perform like never before for every minute of this game. 

They will still be underdogs, but that defining moment still comes to my mind against Clare when Collins made the save. It could be Cork’s year.

I think they'll do it.