Shane Barrett's goal for Cork just before the break turned out to be important, except not in the way it appeared at the time.

The Cork of 2025 have been consistently convincing and occasionally exhilarating. The conclusion is unavoidable. It’s set up for them to get chinned on Sunday.

On the eve of his 30th All Ireland final preview, what follows is the good, the bad and the extremely ugly from the Enda McEvoy notebook over the past three decades. Please try not to laugh too loudly at some bits (he asks...)

Avoid conceding more than two goals and Kilkenny have no excuses not to win.

Some other observations. Deciding the Munster final by way of a penalty shootout was not some monstrous insult inflicted on the honest horny-handed sons of the soil by the faceless powers, unelected bureaucrats etc in Croke Park. 

Sooner or later Micheál Donoghue’s new-model Galway will surprise us, and simultaneously not surprise us in the slightest, by flooring the favourites in a big match.

Nicky English once stressed the importance for a Tipp manager of having at his disposal a bunch of guys imbued with “the values of the Old Stand in Thurles”.

While Cork have become green-flag maniacs, Limerick remain bloodless and calculated. 

Sometimes it’s okay to stop and smell the roses and last weekend was great.

The Rebels are, inarguably, approaching the summit. Limerick scaled the summit a long time ago. The past was yours but the future’s mine?