Galway camogie captain Niamh Kilkenny does not believe their back-to-back wins over Cork earlier this season will have much of a bearing on Sunday’s All-Ireland final clash.
Kilkenny will lead Galway out at Croke Park this weekend for what will be their third meeting with the Rebels in 2015.
Galway came out on top in the previous two – first in the Irish Daily Star National League decider and then in the opening series of games in the group phase of the All-Ireland Championship.
Kilkenny claims however, those victories will count for little when the sides battle it out for the O'Duffy Cup.
She said: "For different reasons, I do not think you can read much into what happened in our last two games with Cork.
"They were earlier in the season and a lot of camogie has been played by both teams since then. Also the games were quite tight with us winning the League final by three points and the Championship game by two.
"You could argue the wins might give us a psychological edge but that could be cancelled out by the fact Cork might be looking for revenge.
"It is an All-Ireland final and it can be hard to predict what will happen in these games because generally the sides involved are quite evenly matched."
Galway face into the final on the back of a one-point won over Wexford in the last four, which was their tenth win in-a-row in all competitions.
However the outcome of the semi-final was left in doubt for nearly two weeks after Wexford lodged an appeal to the Camogie Association.
They were unhappy that what they felt was a legitimate point for them was not allowed to stand and that over two minutes more than the four minutes of injury-time signalled at the end of the game was played. The winning point arrived in the seventh extra minute.
But despite the fact the appeal was not heard until 12 days after the game, Kilkenny says the uncertainty did not hamper their preparations for the final.
She added: "As far as we were concerned, we won the semi-final and we straight away focused on the final.
"The fact there was an appeal in from Wexford did not prove to be a distraction for us. We carried on getting ready to play Cork and there was no talk among us of anything possibly changing.
"If we had allowed the appeal to become an issue then it might have caused us to lose concentration on the task in hand but that was not the case."
Galway might have won by the narrowest of margins against Wexford but they had been in a strong position during the game.
They were five points to the good in the second half but the Yellow Bellies rallied to draw level before conceding a dramatic winning score.
And Kilkenny admits Galway will have to do better if they are to win the Liberty Insurance All-Ireland title back from the current holders. That match throws in at 4.0.
"We were well on top against Wexford but in the end we were lucky to get the win," she recalled.
"In the closing stages we eased off and the game could have gone either way. It just shows what can happen if you have a lapse in concentration and it was a warning for us to keep at it for the full 60 minutes and beyond.
"If we do not play to our potential against Cork then it is unlikely to be good enough."
Galway's line-up for the final will show at least one change from the Wexford encounter after Emma Kilkelly suffered cruciate ligament damage in the game.
She joins Orlaith McGrath (cruciate) and Ann Marie Starr (arm) on the side-lines after they were injured earlier in the year. But Kilkenny is confident Galway have what it takes to challenge defending champions Cork in the biggest game this term.
Kilkenny concluded: "It is unfortunate for us that we are missing some fine players but thankfully we have generally coped well with such problems this year.
"We have plenty of strength in depth in the squad and the absence of some established players has opened the door for others who have done well.
"In a way it is like what has happened at times over the last few years with having to adjust to some players retiring.
"For sure the All-Ireland final will truly test how strong our squad is now but I feel we are ready for it."
Watch the All-Ireland Camogie finals on The Sunday Game Live, Sunday, September 13, 1.45pm, RTE2
