Motivation may give Cork the edge

THE last thing the Cork management wanted after the emphatic win over Clare was to hear their team being talked of as strong contenders for the Guinness All-Ireland hurling title.

They may well prove to be in the running, but it's hardly logical to regard them so highly on the basis of one outstanding performance and a proud tradition.

Any assessment of their prospects in tomorrow's Munster final in Thurles (3.30) should take account of what happened 12 months ago in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Then, against all the odds, Waterford not only won their first title in 39 years, but did so with a superlative display of direct hurling, played at a furious pace. In the context of this game, it matters little that the team didn't live up to expectations in their All-Ireland semi-final meeting with Clare.

The fact is, they managed to reproduce this type of form in the first quarter of their drawn game with Limerick. Crucially, however, they lacked consistency and, while they deserved to draw they were by no means convincing in the replay.

While Waterford have won the provincial championship on six occasions, this is only the second time they have made it back to a final to defend their title the last time being in 1958, when they lost.

When they last contested finals in consecutive years, against Cork in 1982-83, they lost by 31 points the first year and by 19 points the next time.

It's fair to say nobody could have anticipated the outcome of Cork's game with Clare three weeks ago. There was always the possibility of them winning if they played well, but they performed to a level which caught Clare off guard. The intensity of their play and their ability to take on Clare physically meant they were almost always in control.

But, while it was understandable that Cork supporters should have reacted enthusiastically to the win, it was not one-way traffic. After all, Clare came back strongly after half-time. They had opportunities to get a goal which would have revived their challenge and put Cork under serious pressure.

What it amounts to is that Cork (at this stage) are far from the finished article. The likes of Tom Kenny and Setanta Ó hAilpín, who played starring roles against Clare, along with Ronan Curran, have a lot to live up to, and the team, as a unit, won't have proved itself until it demonstrates that it can perform to the semi-final standard on a reasonably consistent basis. Specifically, there has to be an improvement at half-forward, where only Ben O'Connor impressed the last day.

Waterford won't lack confidence. Criticised after a mediocre performance in the replay, they have the reassurance of knowing from last year they can perform up to Cork's level.

It will be a cracker of a final if both teams hit top form, but that isn't likely.

It will probably be closely contested and, on the basis of semi-final form, Cork have the better chance of winning. They have the freshness and, bearing in mind what happened last year, the motivation. They also appear to have more to offer in their full-forward line.

Talk of them being certainties makes no sense whatsoever.