Cork’s facile win over Wexford was the last thing they needed in advance of their All-Ireland final meeting with battle-hardened Kilkenny. The teams had hardly left the pitch in Croke Park before the “punditry of the last performance” began to rear its pitiful head. Commentators who should know better were instantly installing the Rebels as All-Ireland favourites and describing their performance against the yellow bellies as “awesome”.

Yet nobody was saying the same following Cork’s earlier demolition of Antrim which, in form and scoreline (2-26 to 0-10) was remarkably similar to Sunday’s destruction of Wexford. Indeed, it could be argued that Antrim created more and better scoring chances than Wexford, but couldn’t take them. Does this mean that Antrim are as good – or bad – as Wexford, or does it mean that Cork moved onto a higher plane for their clash with the Model County?

We need to keep things in perspective. Kilkenny were widely regarded as being untouchable following their massacre of the Galway innocents, yet they were lucky to survive their next game, and were less than convincing in their subsequent two matches. Waterford were devastating against Clare but where are they now? And in the first half of the Munster final, Cork showed the same fluency, speed and scoring power as last Sunday, yet ended up on the losing side, despite having an extra man for almost the entire second half. Indeed, one would have expected the extra man to have suited Cork’s running game admirably. Yet they used that extra man instead to launch long balls into the Waterford defence from where they were returned with interest to the waiting Paul Flynn.

Wexford applied an astute game plan to telling effect in their Leinster championship victory over Kilkenny. It was surprising, therefore, that they appeared have no strategy to counter the Cork running game. The most obvious tactic would have been to play a third defensive midfielder in an attempt to stop the surging runs of Kenny and the O’Connors at source. Such was the dominance of the Cork halfback line that once the ball was put into the Wexford half of the field it was likely to stay there, as Wexford were simply unable to get any kind of decent possession on their own puckout. Damien Fitzhenry’s renowned ability to make good use of his puckouts was not in evidence here, as he largely persevered with the long ball from start to finish. Perhaps he realised early on that, such was the pace and altertness of the Cork midfield, any low ball played into that area was likely to come whizzing back over his head following a solo run by Kenny or one of the O’Connors.

The Cork style is remarkably similar to that employed by Mick O’Dwyer’s great Kerry team of the late 1970s and early 1980s, with its emphasis on pace, strong running and the use of the handpass to release players into space and gain the overlap. And they showed against Antrim, Wexford (and in the first half against Waterford) that they know where the posts are if allowed to shoot unchallenged. However, as they showed in the second half of the Munster final, when put under pressure their shooting can be woeful – that is, when they get the ball at all. It is difficult to imagine Kilkenny giving them the same latitude as they enjoyed last Sunday.

Another big question mark over Cork is their continuing inability to score goals. You might say that there is no need to go looking for goals when points are so easy to come by. However, they will not come so easily against the Cats who have shown time and again over the years that goals win hurling matches. Even the one goal Cork got against Wexford was somewhat fortuitous, as Doc O’Connor got in the way of Fitzhenry’s line of sight. Goals should never be conceded from that distance at this level of hurling, and one can visualise Brian Cody berating any Kilkenny forward who might go for a goal in that situation – even if he got it!

When Michael Jacob’s late winning goal against Kilkenny hit the net, it is likely that most Waterford supporters intuitively leapt from their chairs with delight. However, the likelihood now is that, had Peter Barry not allowed himself to be dispossessed in that fateful moment, come last Sunday Waterford would have been awaiting the outcome of a Kilkenny/Cork semi-final to see who their All-Ireland final opponents would be. Such are the quirks thrown up by the qualifier system.

At least if the Déise had made it to Croke Park in September, we would have been saved the crocodile tears of those who see in a second Cork/Kilkenny final in a row evidence that the backdoor really favours the stronger hurling counties. However, the fact is that, in recent years there has only been one stronger hurling county, namely Kilkenny, who have contested eight of the last thirteen hurling finals. Over the slightly longer period of the last twenty years, Kilkenny have not been so dominant, with nine final appearances. In that period, Galway (7) played in more finals than Cork (6), while Offaly played in the same number. Tipperary, supposedly the other member of the triumvirate of stronger counties, appeared in just five.

Those who hanker after the good old days when Waterford or Clare might surprise Cork or Tipp once every few years were the people who were happy to bask in the reflected glory of such rare victories rather than put in the hard work to correct the hopeless competitive and coaching structures which consigned these counties to eternal anonymity when it came to giving out the trophies. One can point to the sheer population size of counties Cork and Tipperary as the reasons for their historical dominance, but this argument is shattered by the case of Kilkenny, one of Ireland’s smallest counties, who have shown that the pursuit of excellence is ultimately the surest recipe for All-Ireland success.

One final thought. Last Saturday’s football quarter-final between Westmeath and Derry provided the ultimate proof (if proof was needed) of the need for an independent timekeeper in Gaelic games. Derry’s timewasting via dubious injuries in the closing ten minutes, and especially in injury time (sic) was as effective as it was blatant. When the game went into the announced two minutes of added time, a Derry player spent the best part of a minute being treated on the ground. Yet Mick Curley (who in An Moltóir’s view generally had an appalling game) made no allowance for this stoppage whatsoever. What is stopping the GAA mandarins from introducing the time clock, used to such effect by their female footballing counterparts? It is not even being used in soccer or rugby, which makes the resistance to the innovation within the Association all the more baffling.