All-Ireland SHC Final Kilkenny v CorkGavin Cummiskey talks to Kilkenny's Eddie Brennan who is driven by the fear of finishing the year empty-handed

"All we have left is the All-Ireland. It's all or nothing. We're not really looking back on the last two years, we are just focusing on this year and there is a very real possibility that we will finish empty-handed. That's a motivation factor in itself."

When Eddie Brennan puts it that way the Kilkenny incentive becomes abundantly clear. Granted, Cork are trying to protect their record of 28 titles and are still licking their wounds after last year's final defeat. Yet, if Kilkenny lose on Sunday it will be the first time in seven years their senior hurlers end a campaign without silverware. Immortality or failure awaits.

Either way, history will judge this current side kindly. This may be DJ's last encore but "Cha" Fitzpatrick, Richie Power and even Tommy Walsh are a few years off their peak. The same cannot be said about Brennan.

He's only 25 but in Kilkenny that's when you start looking over your shoulder at the 19- and 20-year-olds coming in. The conveyor belt continually produces fresh blood.

"Every year a new player comes along and a few players get culled. That's just the way hurling and football is, it's a process. You try to hang in as long as you can, until the legs tell you they can't go on," explained Brennan.

A no-nonsense, Tallaght-based garda, Brennan has been a consistent force throughout this championship with a goal in every game, apart from the draw with Clare. When he rattles off the "priority of the panel" cliché you believe him. In Kilkenny quality hurlers are a dime a dozen. It takes a special mentality to fend off the rest. In their notorious training matches a player is found out pretty quickly.

"That has helped us in the last two or three years - that we have had 15 lads marking 15, we do know if you are any way off the pace there is a lad there that is going to take your place. That's one thing that motivates us. The 30 is one of the biggest things that has contributed to our success. It's not about 15 lads on the day, it's about 30 in training."

Ironically, this year training proved to be their Achilles' heel. After completing the double and feeding off the fat of the land they returned a little below par. The National League threw up a few ominous signs. Kilkenny aren't suppose to do relegation play-offs.

"Usually you have to do the heavy training," said Brennan. "I suppose this year we had it a little bit lighter but in fairness to Mick O'Flynn (trainer) he has a routine that we kind of go through every year. We do maybe a month and a half of hard training when the nights aren't suitable for hurling. That just gets the stamina levels back up for when the long evenings come in, when you get back out playing hurling."

When the championship came the winning streak was expected. Eventually, they found the rhythm to spoil the recuperation process of the wounded counties spilling out of Munster's massacre. Having Kilkenny in the draw was hardly an advantage.

Brennan said the Wexford defeat spurred hurling's aristocrats into action.

"It was probably the kick we needed to get us going. We were training at a level that we thought was up to scratch, and looking back it wasn't.

"I think to get through the few matches that came we had to be at our best. If we weren't it was going to be bye bye for the year."

Nothing like fear to focus the mind. Kilkenny had a massive task in front of them and how they relished the opportunity. However, another team were causing a storm on the back-door route. Cork regained their belief with a victory over Tipperary and hammered Antrim before a devastating performance against Wexford in the semi-final.

"I think the whole of Ireland didn't see that coming. Most of all Wexford. Looking at the display on the day, Cork were very dominant and didn't allow Wexford into the match at all.

"They plainly had studied how Wexford had beaten teams during the year and seemed to have a good plan to counteract that. Everything Wexford tried didn't work. Having said that, Wexford were a bit flat. They probably had a lot of young lads who hadn't experienced an occasion like that but Cork looked very focused. They seem absolutely determined."

The difference however is Kilkenny are full to the brim with experience of these days.