Hurling final preview: Hungry Cats pose real threat to Limerick's crown

The stage is set for a battle royal.

Hurling's longest-reigning dynasty against the upstart rulers who have conquered all before them.

Will it be a first three-in-a-row for Limerick or will Kilkenny regain the crown they haven’t held since 2015?

We could do with an epic. There hasn’t been a close final since John Kiely’s men pipped Galway in 2018 for their first All-Ireland title in 45 years.

After the blip of 2019, Limerick have been so dominant in the previous two seasons that the drought seems like the distant past.

It might be stretching it a little to suggest all the neutrals will be shouting for Kilkenny but there is enough evidence to suggest they will give the champions a tougher test than Waterford or Cork managed.

In what will be the 17th final of his 24-year reign, we know that any team sent out by Brian Cody will harry and fight to the bitter end in pursuit of what would be his 12th triumph as manager.

It's a slight surprise they are here at all given the two round-robin defeats in Leinster but this young Kilkenny outfit has improved vastly since.

Whether they have advanced enough to win today remains to be seen but the defensive smothering of a more fancied Clare team in the semi-final was reminiscent of how they inflicted Limerick’s last defeat in championship three years ago, and they will attempt a similar approach.

But this is also a new breed of Cat in attack, mixing up short and long deliveries, defenders looking for diagonal balls where once they would have lumped it in TJ Reid’s direction and hoped for the best.

Not that they won’t try that too. Approaching 35, TJ Reid rarely gets a clear run on goal now but remains immensely fit and causes havoc around the 45. Kilkenny scored 26 points against Clare: 10 of