Cork defence will be tested

MHC Preview: Cork will be hard pressed to stop Kilkenny reaching another minor final on Sunday as the Leinster champions go into the game at Croke Park with six of last year's All-Ireland winning team in tow.

That day they obliterated Tipperary 3-15 to 1-7 with the main damage being done by James Fitzpatrick, with a 2-2 total, and the dead-eye accuracy of Richie Power, who hit seven points.

A chink in the armour has been revealed by the fact that Fitzpatrick sustained a fractured leftwrist three weeks ago playing for his club Ballyhale Shamrocks. He is named in the starting 15 but is considered extremely doubtful. However, manager Br Damien Brennan is willing to give his star turn as much time as possible to recover.

Power has been playing midfield this season but the selectors have moved him to centre forward to give him more scoring opportunities from play.

The best barometer of either team's form can be assessed from how they performed against the Offaly this year. Kilkenny met them in the Leinster decider; comfortably winning their 13th title in 14 years 0-18 to 0-13, while Cork only overcame the Faithful after a thrilling late comeback in the quarter-final on July 26th.

Dinnie Ring's side does have a number of quality players in their ranks. Asaki Ó hAilpín, brother of Sean Óg and Setanta, and Kevin Canty will cause any defence plenty of headaches while Michael Aherne at centre back will be quietly efficient.

However, high-quality performances are practically guaranteed from Kilkenny full-back John Tennyson, another survivor from last year, and Donnacha Cody, son of Brian, at centre back. To have any chance the Cork forwards will have to somehow circumnavigate these two pillars of strength at the heart of their opponents' defence.

This may be grim reading for the Cork side but it is very hard to see how they can suppress the immense Kilkenny attacking arsenal.

KILKENNY (MH v Cork): C Grant, S Cadigan, J Tennyson, J Dalton, P O'Donovan, D Cody, D Prendergast, P Hartley, M Fennelly, D McCormack, R Power, A Healy, R Wall, J Fitzpatrick, E Guinan.

CORK (MH v Kilkenny): E O'Sullivan, E O'Sullivan, N Horgan, S O'Neill, S Cronin, M Aherne, B Clifford, O Manning, B Coleman, M Harrington, K Canty, R Conway, M O'Sullivan, B Barry, A Ó hAilpín.