John Horgan: Everyone says Limerick will win this semi, but as a Corkman I am going for Cork to ends Limerick's reign

WHEN sitting down to begin putting this column together the month of June was still with us.

Previewing an All-Ireland hurling semi-final that is taking place this weekend seems in many ways extraordinary because at this juncture in the year in the past the Munster and Leinster finals would not have taken place.

When the events in Croke Park tomorrow and the following day are concluded there will just be two teams still standing and the intercounty hurling season will be done and dusted a fortnight later.

For the older generation that seems difficult to comprehend, their thinking being that it's far too early to have the curtain drawn on a competition that so many believe is the jewel in the country's sporting crown.

When the whistle is blown to conclude the All-Ireland final on July 21st there will not be an intercounty hurling game played again for nearly seven months.

Yes, everything changes and nothing stays the same but it just not seem at all right that it has come to this.

But that's the way it is and we just have to accept it and look forward to what has the potential to be a feast of all that's best in the great game of hurling.

From our own perspective it's a huge shot in the arm that Cork are back again at headquarters and still very much in contention for the glittering prize that is the Liam McCarthy Cup.

It wasn't that long ago that it looked like that the plate was going to be empty again after the losses to Waterford and Clare in the Munster championship.

But the manner that Pat Ryan's men have reinvented themselves and to be now in the position that they are in has been heartening in the extreme.

Yes, the subsequent performances after those defeats have been a mix of brilliance and lack lustre but the journey was always about being there at the business end of the Al-Ireland campaign.

Many might suggest that the real All-Ireland championship only starts now, the thinking being that preliminary quarter-finals and maybe the quarter-finals are a small bit too predictable and the best four counties will nearly always emerge into the two semi-finals.

Despite their spectacular victory earlier in the season at the round-robin stage of the Munster championship, Cork are going in against Limerick as underdogs.

In saying that, most counties go in as the second choice when you are playing Limerick in Croke Park and that the only time they might be vulnerable is negotiating the minefield that is the Munster round-robin campaign.

However, Cork's victory at SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh has to act as a significant energiser going into Sunday's showdown.

They proved on that Saturday night that Limerick can be beaten, the big question now is can they repeat that feat again?

Limerick lost a game too last season but still ended up on the winner's rostrum on the Hogan Stand.

There is no doubt about this Limerick team's place in the pantheon of greats, maybe the greatest ever, a team with a better balance than all the rest of the pack that is chasing them.

This season they have coped admirably without key players like Peter Casey, Darragh Donovan, Sean Finn and Seamus Flanagan who hit Cork for three goals in Munster.

However, the players who come in to replace them always seem to fit seamlessly in without any great disruption.

Their attacking prowess is well documented and many times that all begins back in their half-back line with Diarmuid Byrnes, Declan Hannon and Kyle Hayes.

In the Munster final win over Clare that trio shared nine points between them.

That, of course, provides the Cork half-forwards with a dual role, firstly putting their own scores on the board and secondly stemming the flow of scores that Byrnes, Hannon and Hayes can punish you with.

The battle on the edge of the square between Eoin Downey and Adrian Gillane will be crucial, Gillane so clinically efficient with his ariel ability.

There was sickness in the Cork camp against Dublin and that has to be taken into account but it's vital that Alan Connolly, among others, rediscovers the form that made him into a goal machine earlier in the season.

Deecie Dalton's form in that game was a huge plus, easily the best of the starting six forwards and his ability to mix it physically will be crucial.

Robbie O'Flynn's introduction from the bench illustrated what he is capable of and he'll see game time on Sunday, if not starting but as the first attacker off the bench.

Gearoid Hegarty and Tom Morrissey bring a bagful experience to the Limerick half-forward sector and will fully test the qualities of Ciaran Joyce, Tim O'Mahony and Rob Downey if Mark Coleman moves further out to midfield.

Looking at both teams and despite the outcome at Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Limerick's overall balance looks that bit stronger than Cork.

Both benches will be crucial too, the stronger of the two maybe determining the game's outcome.

Cork are where they set out to be at outset of the season and their exciting capabilities and potential have been seen to great effect in a couple of games, particularly against Sunday's opponents and subsequently Tipperary.

They have not been as consistent as one might want them to be and against a team of Limerick's sheer brilliance there cannot be a hint of a fadeout during the game.

Limerick are justifiably carrying the favourite's tag but that stood for very little in Croke Park last Saturday when Galway footballers silenced Dublin and Hill16.

Can Cork win ?, of course they can and they are probably the one team that John Kiely knows can end their four-year dominance.

That will only happen if Cork can be as good and much better than they were in their earlier victory, otherwise that result will be reversed.

That's a tall order for the men in red but on their better days we have seen enough to suggest that their time is not far off.

They must be physically capable of matching Limerick, be every bit as aggressive when the need arises and get the maximum out of every player.

Being a Corkman you are naturally going to go for a Cork victory and as we have stated before, every great team, no matter how long their tenure of success has been eventually gets beaten.

The ball is now in Cork's court to end this Limerick reign.

I think they can do it.