What odds on a Kilkenny/Waterford All-Ireland hurling final come September?
After last weekend’s Championship action, the prospect of another Cats/Deise decider, hopefully not as lopsided as the 2008 final, cannot be considered too madcap a prediction.
And while Waterford will certainly have their work cut out come the Munster final (Cork in Thurles, where these teams should always meet), it’s difficult for fans not to look a little further down the line. Croker. A shot at the big one. Fifty-one years of hurt and all that.
The players and management are looking no further than July 11th, that’s what Davy Fitzgerald will tell you. The whiff of silverware is in the nostrils again.
Eight Munster titles in 125 years is a tally that Waterford will be keen to improve, as well as ending the long wait for a third MacCarthy Cup.
Victory over the Rebels would be the Deise’s fourth provincial win in nine seasons, which would represent the county’s greatest ever purple patch.
Back door or otherwise, the Munster Championship Trophy remains a coveted prize, as Niall McCarthy’s interview on TV3 last Sunday testified.
And while Cork’s win over Limerick’s third string yielded little for Denis Walsh to stew over between now and the Munster final, more than a few nuggets could be gleaned from Kilkenny’s scalping of Dublin.
Had the All-Ireland champions’ converted half of last Sunday’s wides against the Dubs at Croke Park, the Cats would have won by 28 points.
In reality, the winning margin ought to have eclipsed the 30-point mark at least; such was the gulf in class between both teams.
See The Munster Express newspaper for full story.