LIMERICK are at the gates of seventh heaven — and Cian Lynch is the man who holds the key.
If this year’s Championship has taught us anything, it is that the Treaty’s captain is the master when the ball is in his vicinity.
So much of what is good about Limerick goes through Lynch.
He possesses all the skills that we have ever seen from any hurler, plus a few unseen ones too.
Whoever Cork task with shackling the two-time Hurler of the Year, he cannot afford to play the Patrickswell man from behind.
His skill level is too high to be disrupted by that kind of challenge.
Above all else, unstinting concentration for 70-plus minutes is required to limit his impact because Lynch only needs a split-second to land a fatal blow.
Cork have been left with a monumental task in trying to close the 16-point gap that separated the teams at full-time at the same venue 20 days ago.
The reality for Pat Ryan is their style has not evolved enough and they have not been able to cope with the aggression the likes of Limerick can bring on the biggest days.
While Cork had their number twice last year, John Kiely must take some of the blame for that.
That especially goes for the All-Ireland semi-final, when he persisted with Declan Hannon at centre-back for far too long.
That was something he would certainly have had regrets over.
Having said that, even the greatest managers can be guilty of mistakes and Kiely has made more than his fair share of good decisions over the years. Hindsight makes experts of us all.
On current form, there are question marks over every member of the Cork forward line.
The only doubt about the Limerick attack relates to how Aidan O’Connor will handle the pressure of his first Championship start.
Going into the attack as a new recruit in a Munster final will be a big ask.
O’Connor has been named at full-forward, which is somewhat surprising, though Kiely is sure to have ideas on how to shuffle his deck come throw-in.
Predicting the Limerick manager’s next move has never been easy.
Regular readers of this column will know that I did not hold back in my criticism of Patrick Collins when he took over from Anthony Nash in goal for Cork.
To his credit, the Ballinhassig man was one of the stars of their run to last year’s All-Ireland final.
However, Collins appears to have returned to his worst habits.
His puckouts have been a disaster. At times, the communication and understanding between Cork’s goalkeeper and forwards seem to be non-existent.
When I played in the half-forward line for Tipperary, I always knew where John O’Donoghue was going to puck the ball.
So too did Larry Kiely, Mick Roche and Theo English in the middle of the field.
This idea of exchanging a one-two with Séan O’Donoghue and then sending the ball up the field drives me spare.
A goalkeeper should know at underage level that forwards want quick deliveries.
When a back has time to settle and size up a situation, he will win the ball 80 per cent of the time.
The Cork half-forward line must curtail the influence of Diarmaid Byrnes, Kyle Hayes and Barry Nash.
Even if you have to hit him with your a***, you do whatever you can to stop your opponent from gaining possession.
If the Limerick half-back line — and their midfield too, for that matter — are given free rein again, Cork may as well stay at home.
The Munster champions are perfectly placed here. Aside from the strength of their starting XV, they have subs for every situation. Their bench boasts five All-Stars.
WIDER OUTLOOK
A defeat this evening will not be the worst thing in the world for Cork as long as there are lessons learned in the event that the teams meet again.
With the crowd and the hype and everything else that accompanies it, Croke Park can bring a different dynamic to any match-up.
Should the Liam MacCarthy Cup reside on the banks of the Lee by the end of July, you will hear very few Cork fans lamenting a provincial final defeat.
If their team’s performance hits the 80 per cent mark, they will be happy enough coming back through Charleville tonight.
Nevertheless, Limerick will prevail to make it seven Munster titles in succession — a remarkable achievement.
LEINSTER LOOK
The defending champions should also come out on top again in tomorrow’s Leinster final, though Kilkenny’s prospects will not be helped by the absence of Eoin Cody.
Still, this is the best position that the Cats have been in for some time.
Galway are coming into this decider on the back of a deserved win over Dublin.
But for 20 minutes of that game, what was conjured up was some of the worst hurling I have ever seen at this level.
There has been improvement in Galway since the first-round hammering they took against Kilkenny.
Their performance that day bordered on embarrassing.
But will there be enough to tip the balance back in their favour?
Even with Cody unavailable to Derek Lyng, I am not convinced Galway have what it takes to claim a first Leinster title since 2018 at the expense of a Kilkenny side who have progressed to this stage in second gear.
