When Saturday comes...

EVEN with so many stories and angles from the 130-year history of Kerry and Cork doing battle in the Munster Championship, a new piece of that history will be written this weekend when the counties meet in what will be the first Munster SFC Final (outside of a replay) to be staged on a Saturday.

The 7pm throw-in in the redeveloped Páirc Uí Chaoimh will be a first meeting of the counties at the famous Cork city venue since 2014, when Kerry recorded a 0-24 to 0-12 win.

Title no.80 is on offer for Kerry – and a sixth in a row – while Cork are seeking their 38 Munster crown, their first since 2012, and looking to beat Kerry in a provincial final for the first time since 2008.

Under new manager Ronan McCarthy Cork will be looking to build on an impressive semi-final win over Tipperary, but they are not without their injury problems. McCarthy has adopted a ‘wait and see’ policy which may see him having to wait until just before throw-in before finalising his starting team.

“Colm [O’Neill] had the op on the Wednesday after the Tipp game so even though it is regarded as a minor procedure it is still an invasive procedure. But he is back running and is making every effort although it is only three and a half weeks between the op and the game and that is very, very tight. We will give him every opportunity.

“Sean [Powter] had a bit of a setback against Roscommon. Nothing as serious as before but it just breaks his training – it is one we will have to monitor but again it will be tight to make the game.

“Donncha [O’Connor] is in the same boat again, just hasn’t quite got there yet. He again is tight. For us now we have to assume they are not going to make it and if they do it’s a bonus.

“Brian O’Driscoll is, touch wood, all fine and should be back in action. Brian Hurley is also fully training and played against Roscommon [challenge match] so he is now at full training and will be considered like all the others.”

Speaking ahead of his sixth Championship game against Cork as manager, Eamonn Fitzmaurice said: “If we are going to win we have to go up and we have to perform and perform close to the top of our ability. If we don’t, we will be beaten.

“We know that ourselves and we’ve shown it plenty of times, we’ve shown it during the league that when we are on and play well, we’re capable of delivering big performances, but when we’re off, we can be poor. We need to bring it and we need to play. And if we play at the top of our game, it will take a good team to beat us. It is very black and white.”

Kerry are favourites, Cork are underdogs, and a big crowd is expected down by the Lee. There’s nowhere you’d rather be when Saturday comes...