Enda McEvoy: Why should there be a downside in qualifying for the League final? 

We live in an age of impossibly sophisticated recovery regimens and backroom teams whose dimensions border on the size of a Cecil B De Mille cast. Whoever reaches the final and whatever the outcome, the winners and the losers will be hopping off the ground two weeks later. Rested, recovered, hydrated, the works. Not just fit but match-sharp, their sights calibrated, their stickwork oiled to a fetching gloss.

Kilkenny manager Brian Cody 

The form team in the country versus the crowd commonly deemed the most likely to take down and/or succeed Limerick. 

It is a National League semi-final to look forward to with relish and the other usual condiments.