Galaxy of stars ready to shine
Two top-class sides, both back-boned by a plethora of inter-county stars, both powerhouses inside their own counties for several years and both very experienced at this level of competition.
From the Tipperary and Waterford panels that met in this year's Munster championship (a game won by Waterford), Toomevara have 'keeper Justin Cottrell, brothers Tommy, Benny and Kenny Dunne and team captain Paddy O'Brien, while Mount Sion are even more impressively represented, with Ken and Eoin McGrath, Tony Browne and Eoin Kelly from the starting Waterford side and 'keeper Ian O'Regan and goal-scoring corner-forward Sean Ryan from the subs.
Apart from those star names, however, both sides fairly bristle with talent.
Every one of the Toomevara starters, for example, has worn the blue-and-gold at some level or another, plus several more from among the subs.
Two genuine club heavyweights then, it will take something special for either of them to progress to the All-Ireland stage of this competition, a fact acknowledged by Toomevara coach Sean Hehir.
"It will, but at this stage only the best teams are left, that's the nature of the competition. A very attractive fixture from the neutral point of view, I accept that, but I'm looking forward to it as a barometer of how we've progressed.
"When I took over back in February, this sort of occasion wasn't really in the frame at all, but without wishing to overstate things, because any team can under-perform on any given day, I'd be happy enough with them now, and certainly the potential is there to win."
Certainly, however, the potential too is in Mount Sion to do the same thing, a fact readily conceded by Hehir.
"I saw them in the quarter-final against Ahane, but they were playing at the same time as ourselves in the semi-final so obviously I didn't see them that day, only the highlights later on television.
"They're a fine outfit, winning their games very impressively, but then they didn't get to where they are now through being a bad team.
"They completely out-hurled Kilmaley, were a good bit better than Ahane also, although they left it tight for a finish."
One of the sub-plots to this game is that while both are recognised as being among the premier clubs in Munster, both have also under-achieved hugely on the national stage. They've had their opportunities, but neither have ever won an All-Ireland club, a fact that grates in both communities.
Hehir, however, isn't for any such talk. "I have a very definite policy when it comes to preparing a team; we can do nothing about the championships that are over, or the ones still to come. We can only focus on where we are now."
Rest assured, much of that focus will be on how Toomevara are to deal with the big guns of Mount Sion. While the Tipperary champions are a very evenly-balanced unit, getting big performances from the likes of full-back Tony Delaney, wing-back Terry Dunne, midfielders Eoin Brislane (man-of-the-match in their semi-final win over Na Piarsaigh of Cork) and Padraig Hackett, forwards Kenny Dunne, Michael Bevans and Willie Ryan, there can be no gain-saying the fact that Mount Sion have got where they are on the back of consistently high-powered displays from their big guns.
Tony Browne has been magnificent at centre-back, Ken McGrath regal in a variety of positions, his younger brother Eoin foraging and finishing with equal aplomb, Eoin Kelly lethal on the flank, Sean Ryan finishing like Gerdy Muller (four goals against Ahane, another against Kilmaley).
How much planning has gone in to spiking all those big guns?
Enough, says Hehir, a man well used to dealing with big challenges in his days as a member of the legendary Clare half-back line of the late 70s (remember? Along with a fella called Ger Loughnane, another by the name of Sean Stack), but only enough.
"Look, Mount Sion could come out and have a totally different shape to what they've had to now, play a totally different kind of game, that can happen. While we will certainly look at their stronger players, their patterns as we know them, try to deal with them, our focus will be on trying to have ourselves right. Then there's the weather, which could be a major factor.
"Anyway, anyone who thinks they can predict the shape of any hurling match before they go out and play it, is due for a bit of an eye-opener."
To take that a stage further, anyone who thinks he can predict the outcome of this one, is either foolhardy or, well, just plain foolhardy. Too close to call, a draw is probably the safest way out.
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