John Horgan on why Cork hurlers will be wary of Tipp's tradition, confidence and class

If momentum is one of the prerequisites in advance of the next assignment, then both Cork and Tipperary have plenty of it stored in their locker before their all-or-nothing All-Ireland final next Sunday.

It would be right to suggest that both counties have to be in a very strong position with a fine unbeaten run carrying them along on that wave of momentum.

Ever before the championship season got underway, Cork had removed a considerable monkey off their backs by winning the national league for the first time in 27 years.

Winning the secondary competition provides no guarantees for the much more rigorous tests of the championship, the Munster championship, in particular but in a couple of Limerick's All-Ireland winning years that success was preceded by a league title.

In some of Kilkenny's golden years under Brian Cody, it was a similar story, the league title being followed up with the big prize being secured.

Only 12 months ago, Clare bagged the big two national victories.

So, more often than not in recent times, winning the league has provided the momentum to carry you all the way on to the podium in the Hogan Stand.

On the championship stage, Cork have been victorious against Tipperary, Waterford, Limerick in the Munster final and Dublin in the last four. Tipperary have gone one better, their last five championship outings have resulted in victories over Waterford, Clare, Laois, Galway and Kilkenny.

Barring a draw next Sunday, that unbeaten sequence will be broken and only one of them will be going home with the Liam MacCarthy Cup, the other empty-handed.

Before that comes to pass, however, many questions will have to be answered, the first one for Cork will be how beneficial last season's presence in the final will be and how agonisingly close they came.

Almost the entire squad that will emerge from the dressing room next Sunday were involved in that final loss to Clare and that experience has to be some sort of a plus.

Conversely, where Tipperary are concerned that type of experience will be new to most of their players and not since 2019 has the county been involved on All-Ireland final day when they took the title at the expense of Kilkenny.

Quite a few of their starting team next Sunday will be competing in their first senior final.

ON THE DAY

All-Ireland final days, however, take on a life of their own and what has transpired in the past can be of little relevance. Again, the well-worn cliche, 'it's all on the day' comes into play.

Where both counties are concerned, another old cliche has been the order, goals win matches and in both semi-finals Cork and Tipp shared 11 between them.

Cork won't replicate the seven that they belted in against Dublin and it's probably unlikely that Tipperary will put four past Cork.

Who knows but there is one thing that we do know, both counties have the attacking artillery in their ranks to raise green flags.

And in both semi-finals, it was the full-forward sector that fired home the goals, Alan Connolly and Brian Hayes sharing five of the seven and where Tipp were concerned, John McGrath, Darragh McCarthy and Jason Forde shared three of their four.

In both instances, it was an illustration of the lethal finishing that is contained in the numbers 13, 14 and 15.

Kilkenny could not breach the Tipp defence in their efforts to raise a green flag and whilst Cork annihilated Dublin, team boss Pat Ryan might have been slightly annoyed with the concession of the two goals.

However, when you are so superior to your opponents there can be a tendency to lose focus and that has happened to the best of teams.

Tipperary were far more severly tested by Kilkenny in their semi-final than Cork were by Dublin and it's been suggested that their narrow victory was a lot more beneficial.

Whilst this Cork squad would have to be seen as more battle-hardened, their place in last season's final and the fact that they defeated one of the greatest teams of all time in Limerick in the three of their championship outings over the past two seasons has to be a big plus in itself.

FOUNDATION

Tipperary, on the other hand, it would have to be said have been nicely rebuilt over the past 12 months, their success story at minor and U20 level laying the foundation stone for their renaissance.

And for that team team boss Liam Cahill, Michael Bevans and the rest off the management deserve immense praise.

Twelve months ago in the aftermath of the Munster championship few foresaw the county being in Croke Park on the last day of the intercounty championship campaign next Sunday.

Add in the fact that they took down arguably their greatest rivals from across the border in the All-Ireland semi-final has to provide them with even greater momentum.

Sunday's final could not have happened prior to 1997, before that two counties from the same province could not have collided on All-Ireland final day and growing up in East Cork we could not in our wildest dreams have envisaged that something like this could happen, Cork and Tipp in an All-Ireland senior hurling final.

It's well documented now that provincial rivals have contested the final in recent times but for Cork and Tipperary, it's taken all of 28 years for it to come to pass.

Down through the corridors of time, their rivalry is the stuff of legend, great days against each other and some bad ones too.

They flaked the daylights out of each other on many occasions but one thing always endured to this present day, the respect for each other has endured.

Friendships forged that lasted a life time and this observer can recall speaking to some of Tipp's greatest, Micky 'Rattler' Byrne and Jimmy Doyle and how they spoke so reverently of some of the Cork hurlers that they enountered and vice-versa.

Byrne, a Tipp legend, idolised Ring, they were great friends until they got the call from on high.

A similar story with Jimmy Doyle and his huge respect for Cork hurling and subsequently the great friends he had on Leeside, Tony Maher from the Barrs just being one of many.

Yes, Cork and Tipp was, is and always will be something far more special than all the other great hurling rivalries and to have them lining up in direct opposition to each other on final day is in itself an extraordinary chapter in a story that will endure for the generations that will follow.

Cork are favourites on Sunday, understandably so given their status after their league and Munster final victories and how they demolished Dublin, the team that had ousted Limerick from the equation.

There is the perception too that Cork's place in the final was almost expected, while Tipperary were not ranked in Munster's top three at the outset.

But similar to Cork, they have arrived on merit and as history has shown us, Cork, Tipperary games usually take on a life of their own.

It's showtime on the biggest stage.