Cork beat Tipperary by 13 points in the Munster final back on the fourth of July.
It looks like a star-studded Cork team, you have Mark Coleman at centre-back, you have Darragh Fitzgibbon in the middle of the field, who is a shoe-in for an All-Star and Shane Kingston who has been very impressive for the senior team.
Then you have the like of Robbie O'Flynn and Tim O’Mahony coming in for the seniors this year at times too.
They’re very, very strong and it’s a huge game for Cork. They haven’t won an All-Ireland Under-21 since 1998 and we’ve seen in recent years how important this Under-21 grade is with Limerick winning it last year and going on to win the All-Ireland last Sunday.
I think Cork are really looking to this team to frame their senior team for some years to come but sometimes when you win a match like that, back in the Munster Championship, the other team have a bit of determination.
Tipp’ had a great win against Galway in the semi-final and they had a great win against Limerick in their first round of the Championship. That Limerick team had Kyle Hayes and Seamus Flanagan and lots of those lads.
So I wouldn’t be fully writing off Tipperary but I just think that there are class players in that Cork team. They’re really, really strong, they’re household names already and 20 years without a win.
That last team had the likes of Donal Og Cussack, Diarmuid O’Sullivan, Joe Deane, loads of lads like that.
Paudie Feehan and Jake Morris may be the only two with senior experience for Tipperary and I just think that Cork will be too strong for them, but I do think expect the gap to be much tighter than the 13 points we saw last July.
MIchael Duignan was talking on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland
