Expecting the unexpected

Over the relatively short life-span of your favourite Gaelic games newspaper, penning the column ahead of the All-Ireland final has been a fairly predictable practice.

Notwithstanding that Kilkenny and Tipp have served up three of the greatest finals of all time in that period – two of which could have been won by the Premier men – credibility, common sense, and more or less every rational cell in your brain still sways your opinion towards the Cats when it comes the time to pin your colours to the mast.

I think the year that Waterford were annihilated I had forecast a draw, believing that the Deise had clocked up enough mileage between provincial and league success to produce a performance at HQ on the biggest day of their hurling lives.

**READ JOHN MARTIN’S FULL COLUMN ONLY IN THIS WEEK’S GAELIC LIFE**