Head-to-head

PJ Ryan of Kilkenny and Tipp’s Brendan Cummins are both experienced at intercounty level and have key roles for their respective sides tomorrow in the most pressurised positions of all.

Cummins is the more flamboyant, he’s a good shot stopper and he relishes the challenge of one-on-one situations.

He seems to enjoy the action, and his puck outs have improved enormously over the last two seasons. Prior to this they were driven long, Cooley Mountain style.

He now mixes them up and hits them to precise landing areas with great accuracy. If he has any weakness, it’s his cover of the near post for angle shots.

His positioning for these can be poor at times and he doesn’t always inspire confidence around the fringes of the square. But as the saying goes, ‘when he’s good, he’s very, very good’.

PJ Ryan, the Kilkenny keeper, goes about his business nice and quietly. He varies his puck-outs and there is a purpose to each one of them.

It’s difficult to assess his real prowess as he has got little to do over the years.

He made a super reaction save from Eoin Kelly in the semi-final and showed good judgement in not leaping across Tommy Walsh for the goal from the 65.

It was a simple block for a player of Walsh’s calibre, which he missed it.

If Cummins has an inspired outing, blocking all he should, and PJ were to have an off day the odds on a Tipperary win would shorten enormously. We don’t wish to contemplate the opposite.