Tipp came to play a match; Cats to fight a war

THE difference between Tipperary and Kilkenny?

Brendan Cummins outlined what he saw as one of them at a Tipp pre-match press conference in the Horse and Jockey Hotel a couple of years ago.

Tipperary, he said with a silent sigh, won an All-Ireland, celebrated for the winter and cherished it; Kilkenny won an All-Ireland, celebrated for the winter and forgot all about it come the first of January. Tipperary dreamt of empires; Kilkenny went about attempting to build them.