All-Ireland preview: Old rivals return to centre stage

In a sport where three counties have dominated the last two decades, the presence of two of them in Sunday's All-Ireland camogie final should be far removed from a novelty.

You have to go back 10 years for the last time someone from outside the vaunted trio of Cork, Kilkenny and Galway were present on camogie’s showpiece.

Since 2002, only Tipperary (2002 and 2003) and Wexford (2007, 2010-2012) have broken the stranglehold, but it feels like it will be at least another year or two before the status quo comes under serious threat again.

The here and now is Cork and Kilkenny and the fact that they haven’t met in a decider in four years makes it something of a drought.

The 2018 final, like the one 12 months earlier, went the way of the Leesiders with a last-gasp point.

Since then the women in red have retreated a little from the top-table as Galway and Kilkenny developed a close rivalry. Whether it has fizzed and crackled to the same level as Cork v Kilkenny is doubtful.

Those encounters were often cagey affairs – Cork's 2017 tally of 0-10 was the lowest winning tally in an All-Ireland final in more than 40 years – but engrossing none the less.

"I’ve been around long enough to know what to expect from Kilkenny," Ashling Thompson said earlier this week.

With four All-Ireland titles to her name, including one as captain, the Milford powerhouse will be central to Cork’s challenge, and will be especially appreciative of her starting spot given the last-gasp overturning of her ban prior to the semi-final defeat of Waterford.

Manager Matthew Twomey said the player was too "unsettled" to start – the ban was only overturned five hours before throw-in – but she helped drag the Rebels back into a contest that seemed to be slipping away