CHAMPIONSHIP 2008 NEWSGRANTED, THEY prefer the small ball more in Cork but they can't take much more of this.

Kerry hardly seem to mind losing an occasional Munster championship match to the neighbours; it provides them with a context to work on their deficiencies, and then back they go to Croke Park to do a number on their great rivals.

The pair have overdone it the past 10 years, meeting 16 times.

Kerry recovered from provincial stumbles in 2002 and 2006 to inflict heavy All-Ireland semi-final defeats. Cork have become Kerry's leg-up to the national stage. When they were finally paired in a final last September, it ended in humiliation on one side, jubilation on the other. All very familiar.

This is the strongest Cork panel for a long time. Even the potential loss of Graham Canty and Nicholas Murphy is not being viewed from a doomsday perspective. They finally have depth.

"The bench we have at the moment, we're always saying that we are all on the same playing field in that it's very well balanced," said the Cork defender Anthony Lynch this week.

"The guys that are going to be subs are going to be as good as the guys that are playing. It's really driving training on and it's a good factor in preparing for games."

The new problem is too much down time. The GAA championship structures remain open to criticism. While the Kilkenny hurlers rarely show ill-effects from a lay-off, all the provincial football champions lost in the last eight, with the exception of Cork, who beat unheralded Kildare but only after a late struggle. In the meantime, Kerry are nearing peak form.

"That five-week lay-off we had, after three weeks it was fine - you are getting guys coming back from their clubs - but on week four and week five you are kind of going 'are we getting a bit rusty now or what's going on, how good are we for championship?'

"It's very hard to keep that pace up, as was seen last weekend. Dublin had a long lay-off as well and they're better than they showed. It's important to keep going in training and that you have a strong panel for that but you just can't beat championship games and I suppose Kerry have had two excellent games against Monaghan and Galway in Croke Park and I think that's brought them right back into their stride."

Asked to explain Cork's failures against Kerry at Croke Park, Lynch said, "Certainly we've a terrible record against Kerry in Croke Park. We're meeting them again now. The way I look at games is that every game is a different game. Last year in the All-Ireland was a bad time for us.

"But, look . . . every game is a new game and you learn as much as you can from it so you just move on. You can be talking about it forever and get nowhere.

"The important thing is that you learn from your mistakes."

Is defeat an incentive?

"Some guys will look at it that it's an incentive to make up for last year. Other guys think differently. Every guy is different that way."

Would it be a huge psychological boost to beat Kerry in Croke Park?

"It would be important. We haven't done it and that's glaringly obvious. It's a stand-out thing. It'd be very important to us. But first and foremost it would be winning an All-Ireland semi-final and getting into an All-Ireland final."

The issue of Kerry's twin towers (Kieran Donaghy and Tommy Walsh) is briefly touched upon before the potential flaws in the Kerry full-back line are broached.

"I don't think Kerry have too many chinks in their armour. One of their main things over the last few years is that if a game isn't going their way they seem to be able to open up their bench and release their depth. You can see in all the tough games they have come through, their bench has helped them in that way. They seem to have an answer to every question that is asked of them."

Cork seemed primed to finally ask a few new ones. Somebody has to eventually.