Dara Ó Cinnéide: Kerry ‘slight’ may inspire Tipp

Even if there is a sense in Tipperary this weekend of stars aligning, of providence, of a full tide turning and of this being a cusp game for a special bunch of players, they will still have to go out and produce the game of their lives to bring down the All-Ireland champions.

There has been no shortage of opinion down these parts all week about all the storm clouds that are in a holding pattern over Thurles, and that may or may not descend on Semple Stadium around 3:30pm tomorrow. For all the games Kerry have won over the years, we (the sons and daughters of Kerry) seem to have a default setting that always has us finely tuned to what could go wrong at this time of year.

When it comes to Munster Championship, there is never a dearth of former Kerry players or die-hard supporters to tell us, with quivering lip, exactly where they were when Clare ended three quarters of a century of pain in the Gaelic Grounds in 1992.