It’s amazing how strangers think it’s okay to cut the legs from under your team-mates, your close friends

All-Ireland finals are different. Winning is a wedding, losing is a wake. Former Cork player Conor McCarthy paints a vivid picture of the difference between the two

AN ALL-IRELAND final is different. Ultimately, a win is all that counts but anyone who has ever been involved in one will find it hard to articulate the surreal nature and all that goes with it.

One thing this Cork side have going for them in that respect is experience. In the last few years at Croke Park, Cork have beaten Galway, Donegal (twice), Sligo, Meath, Kildare and Tyrone. In league finals at Croker, they have overcome Monaghan and Mayo. The routine of going up and down for games is something all the players will be familiar with. This experience would normally count for quite a lot against relative Croke Park novices, but in this case, it’s lessened by the fact this Down side appear to have carried forward the traditional Croke Park swagger of previous teams. Nonetheless, an All-Ireland final is just different.