Final will be a close run affair, says Sheedy

WHAT’S the difference between winners and losers? What is it in individual competition that separates Tiger Woods from the rest in golf, and in team competition, separates Kilkenny from the rest in hurling?

One of the cliches of sport is that, on any given day, any individual or any team can be beaten, so – what’s the difference? Consistency, that’s what. Tiger Woods doesn’t beat himself, neither do Brian Cody’s Kilkenny; every time they take to the arena they are ready, focused, andremain that way until the final shot, the final whistle.

Then you look at Waterford, surely up there with Kilkenny, then Cork, as one of the best teams of the past decade, but with no All-Ireland title to their credit. Why? Because they couldn’t replicate their brilliance,either individually or collectively, on a consistent basis. Year after year Waterford would feature in the game-of-the-season, usually as winners, but year after year they eventually lost, often to inferior teams.