Match preview: Tipperary can edge their greatest rivals

A Kilkenny-Tipperary All- Ireland final — wonders never cease. But taking the literal sense of that phrase, the indications that this duel, which has provided some of the greatest games of hurling, is not piquing as much interest as before is slightly troubling.

Ticket price increases and fatigue surrounding this pairing aside, the final couldn’t get a bigger billing. Not because it’s the best of three finals between Brian Cody and Liam Sheedy or that it could be regarded as the best of five finals between the counties this decade. Rather, it’s the fact that for the first time in their 10-year rivalry, both reach this stage with lingering doubts hanging over them.