John Horgan on hurling: What Tipp will bring to All-Ireland showdown with Cork

Long, long before the final whistle sounded in last Saturday's All-Ireland semi-final it was written in bold capitals that two of hurling's big three would be contesting the final.

Cork had dispatched Dublin with the greatest of ease and it was over to Kilkenny and Tipperary the following day to discover who would be coming up against them on the last day of the intercounty hurling season.

As far as the second semi-final was concerned, the hope was that it would be starkly contrasting to the totally lopsided Cork, Dublin encounter and while it didn't really matter who prevailed, the hurling nation wanted a belter of a game that went right to the wire.

ABSORBING

Well, that's exactly what came to pass, a compelling, absorbing cracker of a game that swung in different directions over the 70-plus minutes before the Premier County set up a historic final between themselves and their age-old rivals in the red jerseys.

We have had a number of finals in the past contested by counties from the same province, Kilkenny and Offaly, Kilkenny and Galway in Leinster, Cork and Limerick, Cork and Clare, Tipperary and Clare, Limerick and Waterford in Munster but surely nothing is ever going to be on the interest scale both on and off the field that a Cork, Tipp final is going to generate in the public domain.

You could write books on the rivalry that exists between them since the foundation of the GAA and, of course, the bulk of that rivalry was confined to some of their epic battles in the province.

Now they have the national stage on final day all to themselves and given all that has gone between them in the past, the potential is there for something extraordinary to take place.

The build-up got underway when the final whistle sounded last Sunday and the 10-year famine in Kilkenny without a visit from the McCarthy Cup has been extended by another year.

EPIC

Saturday's semi-final was almost a non-event because of the very lopsided nature of the proceedings but a day later, Kilkenny and Tipp produced an epic, particularly as the clock began its long countdown.

Having Tipperary back in the final now has become one of the stories of the season, a county emerging from the doldrums of the past few seasons and to be now just 70 minutes away from sitting alone at the top table again.

Optimism at the outset of the year was not at a very high level in the Premier County and in fact most pundits did not expect them to emerge from Munster into the All-Ireland series, Limerick, Clare and Cork were the fancied three.

The Tipp public were sceptical too but no matter how gloomy things might look in any of the great hurling counties, things can quickly change and in Tipp's case in the grades below at minor and U20, things were happening.

The infusion of fresh blood from those teams provided renewed optimism and there was still a strong hand of more experienced campaigners to bring them further up the road.

The initial target for the season was having the opportunity to compete outside the province which, of course, happened and despite a trouncing in the league final it was felt that the progress report was showing some signs of positivity.

They got another bad beating in the round-robin stage of the Munster championship in Pairc Ui Chaoimh again after playing with 14 men for 69 of the 70 minutes.

They drew with Limerick in their provincial opener and saw off Clare and Waterford and those results had the season suddenly gathering momentum.

Now they have taken care of Laois, Galway and Kilkenny in the preliminary quarter-final, quarter-final and semi-final of the All-Ireland respectively and, similar to Cork, they have to be now in a very good place preparing to re-enter the big house next Sunday week.

To have beaten Kilkenny, in particular, on one of the biggest days will surely make them believe that anything is now possible.

They didn't match Cork's seven goals but they put four past Eoin Murphy. Similar to Cork, their full-forward trio of Darragh McCarthy, Jason Forde and John McGrath did all the damage.

Still on the trail of similarities, their subs made a big difference, Noel McGrath's arrival making a difference and Oisin O'Donoghue delivering the fourth goal that effectively won them the day, one of best goals of the weekend.

They had players making major contributions all over the field, Forde had a thunderous second-half to go alongside his first-half goal, Eoghan Connolly was magnificent in a defensive and attacking role and his three points were all worth their weight in gold as events transpired.

John McGrath and Jake Morris shared 1-6 between them, Darragh McCarthy had 1-2 on the board before he was rather harshly dismissed on a second yellow and on it went.

For the second time in two weeks, the team that ended the game with 14 players came out on top and that showed the huge work-rate of those left to carry the torch.

The future is not ours to see but there can be no doubt that Tipperary hurling is on an upward trajectory again, an U20 All-Ireland is already in the bag this year and whilst they will be underdogs in the final against Cork, they will relish the challenge of confronting their greatest foe next Sunday week.

Cork's scoring stats from last Saturday, particularly in the opening half when they scored 4-9 of their 4-13 tally from play, were hugely impressive.

Tipp, it might be argued, did better in their first-half display on Sunday, their 3-11 return all came from open play and that was after it took them 13 minutes to score their opening point.

Kilkenny were clearly the better team in the opening quarter before Tipp's green flags were raised after John McGrath's opener in the eighth minute.

Jason Forde's free-taking in the aftermath of Darragh McCarthy's dismissal was exquisite and quite rightly, he was named Man of the Match.

Kilkenny will take some time to get over this loss, losing to your near neighbour and arch rival hurts more than any other loss. In all probability, TJ Reid won't grace Croke Park again but his legacy will endure, 11 more points added to his already gargantuan scoring tally down the years.

Martin Keoghan got a half dozen gems from play but scoring stats are quickly forgotten when you end up in the losing dressing room.

The season as a whole will soon start to fade in the memory bank, Clare's fall from grace, Limerick's Munster final loss to Cork and their subsequent shock defeat to Dublin and everything else that went on is now consigned to history and everything for this week and next is all about Cork and Tipperary.

An All-Ireland final meeting between them could not have happened in the old days but everything changes through the years.

The countdown gathers massive momentum with every passing day, one day that will surely have lasting consequences for all those involved.