In the dressing room before Tipperary games I used listen to lads like Aidan Fogarty and Derek Lyng, who lived along the border in Urlingford.
You could see the passion in those guys, it burned inside them, and what it meant to be playing Tipp. That soaked into the rest of us and I think it really showed in all of the big games we played against them while I was with Kilkenny.
We truly did have some titanic battles with them, with the modern rivalry starting in the 2009 All-Ireland final, which we won, and the latest instalment the 2016 final won by Tipp.
I’m delighted to say that during my time we had the upper hand most on most of the major occasions and we were always aware of how important those games against Tipperary were because they were our biggest rivals at the time.
The match-ups will be fascinating - Padraig Walsh on Forde, Joey Holden on McGrath and Paudie Maher on TJ
We knew that there were a couple of key games during the year and if you could beat the opposition in them that it would leave mental scars. We wanted to keep planting those seeds of doubts in their minds; ‘will we ever beat this Kilkenny team?’.
If we were three points up in a game, we wanted to go four four points up and keep going. We never took our foot off the pedal - we wanted to bury teams because we wanted to be as dominant as we could be.
My own personal favourite game against Tipperary was the 2014 All-Ireland final. The first game must have been great for neutrals - 3-22 to 1-28. Crazy stuff.
I know when we went back training the defence wasn’t happy about coughing up 29 scores and the forwards were annoyed as well because we knew we didn’t work hard enough to stop Tipp putting quality ball into their own attack.
For the replay, we got it just right. Brian Cody had his match-ups thought out to perfection and then the icing on the cake for me was that both my brother and I scored goals, which meant it was a really special day for the family.
Another favourite of mine was the 2013 qualifier in Nowlan Park, when Tipp came to town and we played in front of a packed house. I don’t know have I ever played in a game with such a brilliant atmosphere in the ground.
We won that one as well, but that’s not to say that Tipperary never had their day. They stopped our five in-a-row bid in 2010 and they made sure we didn’t do another three in-a-row in 2016.
Their problem after that was that they weren't able to put back-to-back All-Irelands together and I think for a team with this talent, that’s a letdown and if these players don’t do it before they retire then they’ll retire with regrets.
I thought that this was going to be a season of transition for Kilkenny and certainly after their first two games in Division 1A, defeats to Cork and Clare, I was thinking a relegation play-off was their most likely first destination.
An All-Ireland semi-final appearance would have been a good achievement in my estimation, with four or five new players pushing themselves forwards and putting themselves in contention to start in the Championship.
But since then they have been fantastic. Lads like Conor Delaney, Enda Morrissey, Richie Leahy, Martin Keoghan and Pat Lyng have stepped up and really started to make an impression, with Conor Fogarty back to his best following a bout of glandular fever and Ger Aylward like a new man after his long injury lay-off.
TJ Reid is showing the form that won him Hurler of the Year in the past and Colin Fennelly, Richie Hogan and Paul Murphy have all to come back into the team. I’m a lot more optimistic all of a sudden.
Tipperary play 15-against-15 hurling and I’m expecting an open game. Certainly, it’ll be a bit different for Kilkenny because they have become so used to playing against a sweeper against Clare, Waterford and Wexford.
We have seen a slight change in the way the Cats play this season too, with Brian Cody moving with the times. His teams were always famous for direct, fast ball into the forwards - route one - to let them fight to win their own possession.
Now we see more short puck-outs, men off the shoulder and working the ball through the lines because this is the way to beat the extra defender so Kilkenny may actually be the more defensive team this weekend.
The last day against Wexford, the half-forward line played much deeper than they used to and Walter Walsh, in the first with the wind, spent a lot of time in his own half-back line.
The earlier League game between these two teams at Nowlan Park in February was a cracker, the home team winning by a point.
Backs outstanding especially Delaney and Morrissey, great to see Conor Fog back and back to his best and Mossy Keoghan brilliant again. Looking forward to the summer, gonna be one hell of a championship #catsnotgoneanywhere
— Richie Power (@power_richie) April 1, 2018
That day though, Tipp were without Jason Forde and John McGrath, who were on Fitzgibbon Cup duty. They are two of the form forwards in the country at the moment and they’ll be back on Sunday.
The match-ups will be fascinating - Padraig Walsh on Forde, Joey Holden on McGrath and Paudie Maher on TJ. Who comes out in those will have a big bearing on the result.
There’s going to be a great atmosphere, a crowd of around 20,000 and Kilkenny-Cork Camogie League final on first as part of a double-header.
I don’t like to say it, but going on form I have to slightly favour Tipperary and I’m tipping them to win a tight game.
Join us for live updates from the Kilkenny-Tipperary Allianz Hurling League Division 1 final on rté.ie/sport and the RTÉ News Now app
Listen to live commentary from Nowlan Park on RTÉ Radio 1 Sunday Sport, throw-in 3.30, and watch full highlights on Allianz League Sunday on RTÉ 2 Television from 9.30pm
