Burning Issue: Are Galway and Cork merely competing for second place?

Galway take on Cork in the first All-Ireland semi-final this weekend, but is it already a foregone conclusion that the eventual Liam McCarthy winners will come from the other last four clash? Two JOE staffers argue the case.

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Conor Heneghan says... Ahead of the first of the hurling All-Ireland semi-finals this weekend, the hurlers of Cork and Galway could be forgiven for wondering about the lack of hype in the build-up.

With the entire country caught up in a whirlwind of excitement over the exploits of Katie Taylor, Paddy Barnes and our other Olympic athletes across the water, it is lacking the usual build up one would associate with an All-Ireland semi-final, although as sporting events go, it’s not alone as far as being lost in the Olympic hullaballoo is concerned. I for one couldn’t believe it when I was told that the US PGA is starting tomorrow, for example. And in case you didn’t already know, the Premier League returns next weekend.

Even on the GAA scene, however, hype has been conspicuous by its absence as people are still talking about the fall-out from the All-Ireland football quarter-finals, while even if Jimmy Barry Murphy himself took to the field on Sunday, the first semi-final was always going to play second fiddle to the latest instalment of the epic Tipp-Kilkenny rivalry next weekend.

Put simply, Galway and Cork are going into Sunday’s semi-final so far under the radar as to be virtually invisible and that’s just the way they’ll like it. In that regard, hurling folk would appear to have pretty short memories, particularly as far as Galway are concerned.

Today is a month to the day that the Tribesmen blitzed the Cats in Croke Park in one of the biggest shocks in the small ball game since the turn of the Millennium. It may have been an off day for Kilkenny and as a result, there has always been an asterisk unfairly attached to any discussion over the quality of their performance.

Off day or not, that defeat represented Kilkenny’s second championship defeat in seven years and like Tipp in the 2010 All-Ireland Final, it took a serious team to beat them. Forget the unfair comparisons with their underperforming predecessors, Galway are a serious team.

JBM would like everyone to believe that Cork are not yet ready to dine at the top table just yet, but they’re not too far away either. The lessons from the chastening league final defeat to Kilkenny have been absorbed, there was only a puck of the ball between themselves and Tipp in Munster and against Waterford last time out, they showed some character to outscore the Déise by seven points to one in the last five minutes when defeat was staring them in the face.

The clash between Galway and Cork might lack the appeal of the other semi-final, but to cast it off as merely the battle for a silver medal is entirely unfair.

A character in the cult film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels once said that presumption is the mother of all f**k-ups. Actually he said that presumption was the brother of all f**k-ups before being corrected, but still, you get the message.

People thinking that the winners of Tipp and Kilkenny will be a shoo-in for the Liam McCarthy might want to bear that in mind between now and the second Sunday in September.

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Mark O'Toole says...Rarely, if ever, in sport is anything a foregone conclusion.

That’s part of the beauty of it and why people will stand for hours in the husk of a 1930s, ramshackle shed on a freezing January morning to watch a county prepare for what more than likely will be another fruitless summer.

Hope. It’s a powerful, horrible affliction.

For fans of Galway and Cork as well as the hurling neutrals it has infected them in the lead up to this weekend’s All-Ireland semi-final.

As the legendary seven foot one basketball player Wilt Chamberlain once said: “Everybody pulls for David, nobody roots for Goliath.”

People very much want to see Galway or Cork do well and go on and win an All-Ireland, they both would be great stories.

How about Cork? After years of strife and infighting in the wilderness they have returned under the stewardship of the Rebel County’s favourite gunslinger Jimmy Barry-Murphy.

They also have a host of great young players introducing themselves to the casual GAA fan; Conor Lehane, William Egan and Darren Sweetnam. They came within one point of beating Tipp in one of the games of the summer in the Munster semi-final. This team’s trajectory is certainly an upward one and the loss of Donal Óg at the start of the summer may have cost them the experience and motivation they needed to win an All-Ireland.

For Galway, they have been the perennial “up-and-comers” for years and people have been urging on Joe Canning to take his place amongst the greats of the game for many years now by accomplishing a feat worthy of that title. This year they broke Kilkenny’s seven-year reign as Leinster champions.

They’re both great stories and teams with hunger, desire, freshness and talent, but that’s their downfall too.

These teams haven’t won the big won yet, they don’t know the reality of what it takes to win an All-Ireland like Tipp or Kilkenny.

It took Tipp two years to gain that experience before winning in 2010. This year they haven’t reached their full ability yet. Between injuries and the Lar Corbett distraction, they’ve grinded their way to an All-Ireland semi-final, if they beat Kilkenny in the semi-final there’s no question that they’ll have enough character to beat either Galway or Cork.

Galway probably showed their hand too early against the Cats. When Cody’s side loses, such as they did against Tipp in 2010, they don’t lose again until they’ve got an All-Ireland. The word from Kilkenny was that prior to the Leinster final, some element of complacency crept in; they’re awake now. Galway’s slingshot woke up Goliath and he’s pissed off, as could be seen in their match against a very under-rated Limerick side last time out. If they beat their old rivals Tipperary you can be sure the older Cats won’t let Galway or Cork stand between them and the Liam McCarthy Cup.

This isn’t a pop at Cork or Galway, merely outlining how well they have done this season and how amazing a feat it will be should they win the All-Ireland, but this isn’t their time, not yet.

All the indicators are that Galway and Cork have what it takes to win an All-Ireland in the next few years, but they’re just indicators. Kilkenny and Tipperary have done it, no indicators needed.

In sport anything can happen, but the likelihood is that this summer Kilkenny or Tipp will be lifting the Liam McCarthy.