A true Premier challenge but Kilkenny to prevail

ANY meeting between Kilkenny and Tipperary hurlers is a highly attractive proposition, although nowadays it’s a more healthy rivalry compared to the acrimony which some of their games generated back in the 1960s.

Given the counties are clashing in tomorrow’s Allianz NHL final in Thurles a short time after Tipp received a trimming in Nowlan Park makes it all the more interesting.

Brian Cody’s oft-quoted comment that Kilkenny are “beatable” on a given day, is factual up to the point. In the league, their only significant defeats of recent times were at the hands of Tipperary in the semi-final last year and by Waterford in the 2007 final, while the latter were the only team to beat them in this campaign.