John Doyle, not long before he passed away in December 2010, made an intriguing remark about 21st-century hurling.

Cork and Tipperary face each other in the All-Ireland semi-final on Sunday. Calm down, there are a few sleeps to go yet. To get you in the mood, we examine, in quotations, the relationship between the counties.

Limerick has hosted some of the all-time classic Munster hurling encounters

The light may be getting dimmer on this Kilkenny team but they are raging wildly against it.

Two of Tipperary’s greatest hurlers believe Kilkenny under Brian Cody have never been more vulnerable as now.

If there’s one Irish sports autobiography this year that every sports coach in the country should read, then it is Lar Corbett’s All In My Head.

Bishopstown 4-07 Clonakilty 1-07

What have Kilkenny and Brian Cody been doing behind closed doors in Nowlan Park since the Leinster final loss to Galway?

Avoiding Kilkenny as long as possible is key to sustaining a team’s All-Ireland interests — even Tipperary’s.

Clonakilty and St Nicholas have built up a tremendous rivalry and at Brinny on Saturday night they added to it in a hugely entertaining SFC second round tie that hung in the balance for most of the 62 minutes played.

Clonakilty CC4-6St Brogan’s, Bandon1-7

YOUR columnist has been colder than he was yesterday in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, but not often. Thurles Sars and De La Salle played in what Sylvia Plath called the light of the mind: cold and planetary.

FOR likely starters Padraic Maher, Brendan Maher (not related, by the way) and Noel McGrath, and for all the other half-dozen or so U21s on the Tipperary panel, facing Kilkenny in this Sunday’s All-Ireland senior hurling final could be a daunting prospect.

EAMONN CORCORAN could have sidestepped the question, but that wouldn’t be his style.

TWO days after Cork won the 2005 All-Ireland title, the team brought Liam McCarthy up to the Na Piarsaigh clubhouse in Farranree on Cork's northside.