Former Cork goalkeeper and current RTE GAA analyst Dónal Óg Cusack looks ahead to the All-Ireland SHC final between his home county and reigning champions Limerick, where lies a conflict of head and heart.
There will be 40,000 fans in Croke Park on Sunday and the crowd will make more than enough noise to fill the empty seats on Jones' Road.
After all we have been through on this island, we deserve an afternoon to celebrate the best of us and the best of sport.
Liam MacCarthy will be heading to Munster for the fourth year in a row no matter what the outcome; Limerick going for their third in that period as Cork look to end their 16-year famine.
Cork are the long-odds outsiders. Limerick, who have been living in the clouds for the last few years, are, of course, favourites. In both previous meetings this season Limerick ran out more than comfortable victors, winnning by eight points on each occasion.
A lot has happened since those games.
Limerick have continued on their all-conquering path and who will forget that demolition of Tipperary in the third quarter of the Munster final?
Cork have been a story of steady improvement with solid wins against Clare and Dublin. They earned a fine victory over the Cats in an epic semi-final final and will feed off the feel-good factor generated by their recent underage success.
Everybody knows what Limerick do, but knowing what they do has proven little help.
They do what they do so well that nobody knows how to stop them.
Cork have not flattered Limerick by imitating them; that must be the approach for Sunday. There's no point trying to beat the masters at their own game.
The Cork management must have had headaches over whether to include Shane Kingston in the starting XV or not.
His outstanding performance when introduced in the semi-final merits inclusion but the attraction of having a game-changer on the bench might prove too much.
There's no such selection issues in Limerick.
The heart says one thing and the head another. This is Limerick’s time to capitalise.
All dynasties come to an end as we were reminded of last weekend in the Dublin-Mayo clash.
Since basecamp, at the outset of the league, we said that this was Limerick's to lose, and now on the last leg of the climb, to where the air is rare, they are still hot favourites not to falter.
Dónal Óg Cusack was speaking on Morning Ireland on RTE Radio 1.
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