This Cork team is one of the all-time greats

I HOPE hurling fans are aware that we are witnessing one of the all-time great teams in action.

What this Cork team has already achieved in reaching four All-Ireland finals in-a-row under the modern system compares very favourably with anything any other side has done.

The fabled four-in-a-row side of the ’40s had to overcome just two teams in 1941 (Limerick in the Munster semi-final, Dublin in the All-Ireland final). They lost to Tipperary in the delayed Munster final, but held their All-Ireland title. They beat four teams in 1942 (Limerick, Tipperary, Galway, Dublin). They beat Kerry (8-3 to 2-7), Waterford and Antrim (by 5-16 to 0-4 in the All-Ireland final) in 1943. They beat Tipperary, Limerick, Galway and Dublin (2-13 to 1-2 in the final) in 1944.

Compare that with what this team has had to do. In 2003 they faced Clare, Waterford (won Munster) and Wexford before losing to Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final by three points.

In 2004 they met Kerry, Limerick, Waterford (lost the Munster final by a point), Tipperary, Antrim, Wexford and Kilkenny (defeating the latter in the All-Ireland final 0-17 to 0-9 and denying the Cats the three-in-a-row).

Last year they accounted for Waterford, Tipperary (Munster final), Waterford again, Clare, Galway (winning their second consecutive All-Ireland final, 1-21 to 1-16).

This year Cork played and beat Clare, Tipperary (Munster final), Limerick and Waterford and are now in the All-Ireland final.

As our American friends would say, do the math.

Look at the competition just in Munster alone to begin with. Has Munster hurling ever been stronger? Five counties are competing and any one of them is capable of beating anyone else on any given day. Well capable of beating anyone else but Cork, that is, with one honourable exception, and we’ll come to Waterford anon.

Now look at what Cork have had to do in those last four years. In 2003 they faced two strong Munster teams, then the two strongest Leinster sides. In 2004 they had two strong teams in Munster, followed by a third (Tipperary) in the qualifiers, then they beat the two strongest teams in Leinster.

Last year they had to win the equivalent of two Munster titles. They beat Waterford and Tipp in the province before accounting for Waterford and Clare to get to, and win the All-Ireland final against Galway, the conquerors of Kilkenny.

This year it was akin to another two Munster championships — Clare and Tipperary in the provincial championship, then Limerick and Waterford to get to the All-Ireland final. By doing so Cork became to first Munster team to have beaten all the other four of the strongest Munster hurling counties in the same year — and that’s just to reach the All-Ireland final, where they will meet either Clare or Kilkenny.

This, my friends, is unprecedented in hurling history. Know what ye are witnessing, because this Cork side is already one of the truly great teams.

Let’s go back to Waterford. The more I see of them, the more I’m reminded of the Munster rugby team. I know they haven’t reached an All-Ireland final, but there is that aura about them. Like Munster, they have brilliant fans, who travel in their thousands and give magnificent support.

Like Munster they have brilliant long-serving players; like Munster, they’ve come up short season after season; like Munster, however — and this is the most pertinent point of all — they keep coming back.

There’s an All-Ireland title in this team. The challenge they put up to Cork in Croke Park on Sunday would have been enough to beat any other team, any other day. Waterford contributed hugely to what was a classic, better even, I felt, than the Munster final of 2004, which they won.

Were it not for the state of the pitch, which is now an obvious problem, after rain especially, this might even have been the game of the ages.

It had everything you want to see in championship, hip-to-hip hurling in every line, suffocating defence on both sides where nothing was given away cheaply, yet superb scores made and taken.

Think of the brilliance of Ronan Curran at centre-back for Cork, then think of the two super puck-out catches by Seamus Prendergast, from which came two second-half points for Waterford. What about John Mullane’s four points, one better than the next? Big Dan, they say, was subdued, but who began the move for the Waterford goal, with that clever flick? Then you had the talents of Clinton Hennessey, Eoin Murphy, Tom Feeney, Ken McGrath, Tony Browne, Eoin Kelly, Brick Walsh, Eoin McGrath. Throw in a fit Dave Bennett and Paul Flynn, and this is as good a Waterford team as there’s been.

Unfortunately for them, they’re playing in an era where the All-Ireland title has become far more difficult to win.

Unfortunately also, they’re playing in an era when Cork have come up with a team to walk with the giants.

They’re not perfect, no team ever will be, and they make their mistakes on and off the pitch (taking off the wrong man on Sunday last, for example, to bring on the right one). On and off the pitch, however, a more honest, hard-working, professional bunch has never existed. This is a group that does everything humanly possible to put themselves in position to win. They will be beaten some time, no doubt about that, could be beaten in this final by Clare or Kilkenny, but they are special.

I don’t care what county you’re from, who you support; if you’re a true hurling supporter, cherish that, cherish them, because they are worthy.

We are privileged to see them in the flesh.