'All-Ireland finals don't come around too often...I can't wait'

Will we ever learn, particularly when it comes to Kilkenny?

Hurling or camogie, so many of us on the outside have them slated for transition and they go and give us a bloody nose, one more time.

Just like the hurlers, the camogs are still in contention approaching the last hurdle. With old rivals Cork blocking their path, they will hope to go one step further than their male counterparts however.

That they are the bookies' favourites to do so is all the more remarkable given the retirements of Davina Tobin and Collette Dormer, and Meighan Farrell taking at least this year out to go travelling. Then a fourth first-choice defender, Kellyann Doyle suffered her third cruciate ligament injury and soon after, her sister Aoife was struck down by the same curse.

But we forget that every player has a shelf life. We forget too, when making broad sweeping statements suggesting a period in the doldrums, about the potential of those stepping in, and the improvements that can come from playing regularly. In a way, it’s a direct insult to those stepping in, though it isn’t meant as such.

Laura Murphy, like Tiffanie and Steffi Fitzgerald and Michaela Kenneally, has grasped the opportunity presented to her, while Julianne Malone has returned to the fold after a three-year absence when travelling herself.

A brilliantly economic finisher who was player of the match when Kilkenny won the All-Ireland in 2016, Malone has added significantly to the attack.

Murphy came on as a sub when the Cats last climbed the summit in 2020. That was another year where they were supposed to be in transition. Remarkably, with Anne Dalton and Anna Farrell also having retired, seven of that team are no longer available and yet here they are.

Murphy was also introduced