Larkin and Cats focused on win

Kilkenny forward Eoin Larkin will not mind if the Leinster champions win ugly at Croke Park on Sunday - just as long as they win.

The 22-year-old was in Dublin today for a press conference ahead of the Cats' All-Ireland SHC semi-final showdown with Clare.

Cork's win over Waterford last weekend was widely acclaimed as the best hurling match of the summer so far, and while the seventh ever championship meeting between Kilkenny and Clare has the potential to produce more high quality fare, winning it is all that matters to Larkin.

Reflecting on his side's recent tangles with the Banner men, he said: "I don't think those games were that epic but we'll take a win on Sunday - whether it be by a point or ten points - we'll take any win.

"Even if it was a scrappy match we don't mind, we're just looking for the win."

DJ Carey was a pivotal figure when the sides last met in the championship in 2004 - the Gowran legend landed three points, including the score that finally put the nail in Clare's coffin in a 1-11 to 0-9 quarter-final replay win.

But this time around, Brian Cody's Cats will be without Carey, who retired in June, and Larkin reckons it is time for other members of the panel to take on some added responsibility.

"DJ was a great servant of Kilkenny and everyone misses him but he felt it was time to go.

"It's time for someone else to step up to the plate, and there's no better place than Croke Park to do that," said the James Stephens clubman, who took on the captain's role against Galway in the absence of the benched Jackie Tyrrell.

Of the sides' previous championship clashes, Kilkenny have won four, Clare one while the 2004 quarter-final went to a replay after a 1-13 to 1-13 draw.