'We'd crawl to Dublin tomorrow to play the final' - Brian Cody on what semi-final success means to Kilkenny

Brian Cody gives as little away as possible but you get the sense he particularly enjoyed this one.

Not just beating but hammering a favoured Clare team, ending what was his longest losing semi-final streak (two) and most importantly, a 17th All-Ireland final in what is now his 24th season in charge of the Kilkenny hurlers.

When it was put to him that the two weeks until the decider was a tight turnaround, he agreed but observed: "When you're in the All-Ireland final, you don’t pick and choose what you get. We’d crawl to Dublin tomorrow again to play it if we had to, to be honest with you. That’s what the All-Ireland means.

"We were at the same stage last year and the year before as well. We went out and performed and performed well and we just didn't make the final. Obviously that drives on players even further.

"Everybody wants to get to the All-Ireland final and of course I would say in everybody's mind and everybody's heart, they would be saying, 'Look it lads, we can't afford this to happen again'. Because it's a tough feeling when you do lose it."

Kilkenny had a scarcely believable 14-point lead after tearing into Clare in the opening half on Saturday. Did the manager bring up the 2020 All-Ireland semi defeat when they led Waterford but were reeled in?

"I didn't have to really because they know themselves and they had spoken themselves about it as well," he said. "But look it, that's over now, this game is over. We can't say we let the last two All-Irelands slip because we weren't in them.

"To be in the position we were in at half-time took a huge effort - honesty, skill, application, and everything else. There’s no doubt about it, it was a very, very good display. In the second half the performance dipped a bit,