John Horgan: Tipp deserve to be slight favourites against Cork hurlers with plenty to prove

Though their paths crossed four times last season, twice during the league and twice in the championship, it might be fair to suggest that the fierce rivalry between Cork and Tipperary is not as pronounced as it once was.

Given their decorated history, there's still a bite there but in latter years it could be said that it has been overtaken by Cork and Limerick collisions.

That is a matter of opinion, of course, but for me when it's Cork and Tipp, there's nowhere else you would want to be on a championship Sunday, in Thurles or in that plot of land down the Marina.

The latest chapter will unfold this week, Tipperary sitting on top of the perch after last July's All-Ireland final, a game that can hardly be explained after the remarkable turnaround after the interval. Now, for the time being anyway, Cork will want to take them down a bit and take it from there.

We don't really know where Tipp are at, at the moment, given how they performed during the league, not exactly setting out to take that title from Cork.

Ben O'Connor stated in the aftermath of Cork's loss to Limerick last Sunday week that he had got what he wanted out of the league except the trophy.

In the hurling homes of Tipperary, Liam Cahill was probably declaring that he had got what he wanted too from the secondary competition, three victories, one draw and two losses.

With the league now quickly fading into the outer regions of the mindset, it's all about what transpires over the coming weeks and months.

There won't be room to move in the square in Thurles leading up to the throw-in as the beginning of the unknown unfolds. People still talk of last July in Croke Park but, God almighty, it's time to forget about it now, time to move on.

League form might still matter to some extent and Cork did secure the win over Tipp in their regulation league game back in February but the secondary competition and the Munster minefield are poles apart.

Despite both counties being in experimental mode, it was good for Cork to come out with the victory to erase a small bit of the pain endured in that All-Ireland final catastrophe.

On Sunday, the probability is that both counties will contain the vast majority of the teams that lined out in Croke Park.

The news that young Barry Walsh had been withdrawn from the Cork U20 game with Waterford earlier in the week suggests that he is very much in the thoughts of the management as regards starting in Thurles.

It would be a big call for a player starting out on the senior journey but he has shown that he has the ability and drive, to trouble the best of defences.

Diarmuid Healy scored three points the All-Ireland final and his loss to the half-forward line is immense.

Sean O'Donoghue's experience in the full-back line will be too if he's ruled out.

Tactically, Cork were outwitted in Croke Park with Tipp's Bryan O'Mara's sweeper performance and the Tipp defence as a unit had Cork's measure with Ronan Maher leading by example and John McGrath playing havoc up front.

Tipp had 11 different scorers that day. Cork's second-half collapse was bewildering. It's all water under the bridge now.

Yes, things have been very quiet in the Premier County over the past number of weeks, a bit of an unknown quantity as a Tipp friend tried to persuade me.

There was a simple answer to that, Tipperary are the All-Ireland champions, full stop.

INSUFFICIENT

While not putting too much emphasis on Cork's last outing in the league final, any repeat of that type of overall performance will not nearly be sufficient in Thurles. Not enough players making the desired contribution, particularly in attack when it could be said that only two of the starting six, Willie Buckley and Brian Hayes, performed to the level that threatened the Limerick defence with their half-back trio well in control.

There was too much looseness in defence that if repeated the likes of Jake Morris, Darragh McCarthy and Jason Forde will capitalise on it.

There was considerable debate among Cork supporters on how the puckout strategy against Limerick didn't function and that's an area of the game that's so vital now.

Is Cork's bench as strong as it's perceived to be, as formidable as Limerick's, in particular? Over the coming few weeks, we will soon find out.

And it's during those games, the opening two first and foremost that all will be revealed because nearly all championship games, when little or very little divides the teams you are going to need your five top subs.

All sorts of permutations are being put forward on how a county ends up in the top three and are not also rans all too quickly, your opening game, your home games and so on.

It can be viewed whichever way one wants and in last season's round-robin stage, five points from the available eight were needed by Limerick, Cork and Tipp to be in the first three.

A county can recover from a battering too as Cork did against Limerick and needed to defeat Waterford subsequently to stay in the championship which, of course, they did. But it's a very fraught situation going into the last game of that stage of the competition needing to win.

That's what the Munster championship has become, nothing sorted until the final group game.

Regarding Cork's starting 15 (which was revealed on Thursday night), the big questions are who starts at corner-back if Sean O'Donoghue is out and if young Barry Walsh starts, who will he replace?

There are probably 13 definite starters but speculation always exists.

Free-taking has become such an integral part of the game now, the shorter distance and the longer distance and in the league final, Limerick reverted back to Aaron Gillane when Aidan O'Connor missed a few.

Alan Connolly, to be fair, has done well from the placed ball over the course of the league campaign and Darragh McCarthy will be Tipp's man in that department with Jason Forde as back-up. Darragh Fitzgibbon is in a likewise situation for Cork and Tim O'Mahony in the equation too from a longer distance.

So, what's likely to happen on Sunday, who will get off on the better foot and not be under that bit more pressure for game number two.

Being All-Ireland champions, having home advantage and Cork's indifferent display in the league final probably make Tipp the slight fancy.

One thing is a near certainty, there will be no repeat of the final scoreline from last July and the greater likelihood is that the issue will be much longer in the balance than it was on that occasion.

For Cork to get the job done a much better overall performance from the league final will be very necessary.