Cork’s clash with Tipp the pick of the draw

OF all the pairings in either championship last night, the one that stood head and shoulders above the rest was undoubtedly that of Tipperary and Cork in the Munster hurling quarter-final.

There are two questions about Tipp after their oh-so-close effort last month. Will it push them on to bigger and even better things? Will it take the wind out of their sails?

Cork will surely help find an answer early next summer.

Rebels manager Denis Walsh will have shoved his feet under the table in Cork by then and, with a (hopefully) quiet winter behind them, the Rebel county will be confident of returning to the heights they have temporarily vacated.

As always, Munster throws up a handful of delightful talking points.

Epic as it probably will be, the winners of the Tipp/Cork meeting will have earned nothing more than a provincial semi-final berth against a Limerick side that flattered to deceive in 2009.

The opposite side of the draw is equally exciting with Waterford chief Davy Fitzgerald faced with the unenviable task of having to prepare for a semi-final contest against his beloved Clare. Poetic, or what?

The Banner suffered a disastrous senior campaign this year but Mike McNamara will be hoping that some of the lustre from the county’s successful All-Ireland U21 campaign will rub off on him.

In Leinster, the bean counters will be rubbing their hands with glee thanks to a draw which has kept Kilkenny and Galway on opposite sides and offers the prospect of a mouth-watering final in Croke Park.

The two counties played out an exhilarating semi-final tie in Tullamore last June and the prospect of them coming to grips in the decider would certainly result in the biggest attendance in the province for many a year.

Before that, however, Kilkenny will, in all likelihood, have to see off Anthony Daly’s Dubs in the semi-final while Galway boss John McIntyre will need to plot a route beyond the challenge of Colm Bonnar’s Wexford.

“I suppose once the draw was made people would have been looking at the fact that Kilkenny and Galway were drawn on opposite sides,” said Bonnar last night.

“They would be the two form teams from a neutral’s point of view.

“There’s nothing we can about that. Having said that, I wouldn’t say either of them would be taking anything for granted. Hopefully we will be able to give it a good go in Leinster next year but it will be difficult.

“It will be John McIntyre’s second season in charge of Galway and he will have them in tip-top shape. They showed how dangerous they were this year against Kilkenny in Leinster.

“We will be hoping that we don’t suffer from the same sort of injuries that we did this time and we’ll be well up for it.”