Before we arrive at this weekend’s action, let's reflect on a week of departures.
Henry is gone from Galway and that's probably the best call for all involved. I was there for the game against Dublin this year and things just did not look or feel right.
I still strongly believe in the potential and class that lies in that Galway dressing room but I also believe that the man to guide them must be from the county.
Outside managers have not worked for Galway. Ger Loughnane, Shane O’Neill and now Henry - all brilliant managers at club or county level but they just could not get things to tick when it came to Galway.
Now look at their best success. It's been with born and bred Galway men at the helm: Cyril Farrell and Micheál Donoghue and, to be fair to him, Anthony Cunningham who nearly led them to the promised land in 2012 and 2015.
Whoever Galway appoint they will have to make sure he gets the culture, understands the clubs where these guys are coming from, how to get the best out of them, whether that’s an arm around the shoulder or a kick up the arse.
The man-management will be key and also to try and bring that steel and physicality we regularly see in the Galway club championship games into the inter-county setup.
For Galway to win they must choose Galway to guide them.
Down in the south east, Davy Fitzgerald (above) has departed and I think the solution to this conundrum is similar in terms of Waterford being led by a Waterford man for them to maximise their potential in 2025 and beyond.
Austin Gleeson will be back and revitalised, the younger guns have shown great promise and after their best round-robin campaign ever this year the connect between team and supporters is strong once again.
So why did Davy leave? I find it hard to understand this one more so than Henry and Galway but it’s always very hard to understand the why when you do not know the how.
How much time it takes. How much of yourself you have to pour into the thing. How much of a toll it takes on you mentally and physically. How much time you are gone from your family. All these things are major factors when it comes to deciding to stay on for another year.
Also it was clear to see the differences in the style of play between league and championship for Waterford and that this was most likely player driven or led and as a manager you might have to ask yourself if they don’t want to play the way I feel is best - maybe I’m not the right man for this job with this group. All hypotheticals but I’m sure all factors in this decision.
Who will replace Davy? Many say they will return to Derek McGrath who led them to the All-Ireland final in 2017 and had the group hurling some of their best stuff since the glory days of Mullane, Ken McGrath, Kelly, Big Dan and Co.
He understands the culture, the players will have huge regard for him as many will know him either as a manager or a school teacher. The respect will be there straight away.
He will build a strong team around him and if he returns then the goal for many will be to win the All-Ireland. But really it should be get out of Munster and see where it goes from there then.
Is he the man for the job? He will give his all as he did before but it’s a ruthless, results-driven business at inter-county and the proof will be if we are still talking about Waterford hurlers this time next year.
So back to the now and those still involved. First billing is Saturday night. Clare v Kilkenny. Third time in a row.
What has changed from previous years? Man-marking Tony Kelly now should not be as detrimental as it was two years ago. Clare are coming into this with perhaps even greater scar tissue than last year after losing another Munster final to Limerick.
Like last year against Dublin they had a fairly easy run of it in the quarter-final when facing Wexford this year. They have a full deck to choose from. They have the potential to beat the best out there.
So why can’t they do it when it matters most, when there’s a championship on the line or most importantly when it’s in Croke Park? Is it a mental block? I don’t think so as many of these Clare players have hurled brilliantly in Croke Park in recent years but it is the collective performance they are still yearning for in the big arena.
There was a very clear improvement last year from two years ago when they just fell apart really but still it wasn’t enough to get the job done and perhaps that Eoin Cody goal in the 55th minute after a lapse in concentration was the turning point that day. The Banner were two up at the time and looking good. Oh, and maybe one of the greatest saves in the history of hurling helped Kilkenny win by three points.
I’m a big believer in hurt as a motivator and if I was looking for a one percenter in the Clare camp I would have these moments on repeat over the past few training sessions.
It’s hard to bottle the emotion from a dressing room afterwards but it’s easy to show images of the pain they felt when that final whistle sounded last year. That’s what I’d be doing to get these Clare lads ready to perform as a group because they are up against the ultimate professionals when it comes to getting things done in Croke Park.
It has often been said you do not have Kilkenny beaten in Croke Park until you’ve watched their team bus take the turn for Kilkenny off the motorway, go home, watch The Sunday Game and make sure you have won. They will never give up, they will never give in, they just simply do not know how.
Sure, this is not their greatest bunch but they have yet to produce a bad bunch in their history because of that culture and that spirit they have in the dressing room and some damn good players too.
The rest after winning Leinster at a canter will have been ideal for the injuries to fully clear to the likes of Adrian Mullen, John Donnelly and Eoin Cody. They will not fear any Munster team and I know they are sick of hearing of the Munster championship and the teams involved and they have proven that they can take on any Munster team and more often than not beat them in Croke Park.
So both managers should have a clean bill of health, both will have points to prove.
Who will win? Tactically I think we will see both teams go at this, as in no sweepers, no leaving Richie Reid to dictate things at one end or John Conlon at the other.
Man on man with perhaps some space to be left in front of Rodgers and O’Donnell at one end and Eoin Cody and TJ at the other. Whoever can utilise this space best, get the best ball in and most often to these guys will win the match.
Let there be war then amongst the rest between the two 45s. When it comes to war Kilkenny are the masters and I think they will prove that once again on Saturday. Whatever is in the Clare dressing room has to come out that tunnel Saturday evening because it will be too late by 8pm and perhaps the last we could see of several of these Banner warriors in Croke Park.
Destiny - it often suggests a future that includes something great and important. I could go on and on here about Limerick but one thing I am not doing again is going against them like I did in the Munster final.
Quite simply put Cork at their brilliant best will still not be good enough to beat Limerick at theirs or even 90% of it.
Harsh as it may sound to Cork people for me that’s the way I see it. Limerick have rested, they have recharged, they have reassembled the squad and now are back to near full force.
The biggest headache for John Kiely will not be the logistics of the day but rather deciding what 15 players will march behind the band at 3:58pm on Sunday and what finishers he will use to get the job done. Limerick are the best, Cork got them on a below par night in Páirc Uí Chaoimh that night in May, that will not happen again.
A few Cork lads left a bit in to a few of the Limerick lads that night too, that will not happen again and Paul Kinnerk got booked, that will never happen again.
Cork have not been at full tilt or anywhere near it since their Munster campaign finished but our understanding is a bug in the camp could have had a major effect here on performances. If they do not bring what they did against Limerick earlier in the year and more, what they did to a dying Tipp team and much more then I feel the first fans down the M7 will all have red and white tops on.
Destiny awaits for these teams at the weekend in some shape or form and while the more things seem to change the more they stay the same and that our All-Ireland final pairing will, once again be, Limerick and Kilkenny. I have been known to be wrong before, or maybe I was mistaken.
Finally a shoutout to the heroic display of the minor hurlers of Tipperary last week against Kilkenny. Never did I think that a minor All-Ireland victory would mean so much to so many but this one just hit differently.
The manner of the victory, the venue it occurred in and the spirit shown by these young men gave us all a lift we didn’t know we would get but so badly needed in Tipp.
James Woodlock used words like passion, spirit, pride and honesty, words and mantras he himself lived and died by as a player and that he and his management team have now instilled into these young players.
I won’t lie, I shed a tear when the final whistle blew. Maybe it was because I was just so proud of these Tipperary players, maybe it was because of the emotion of it all, maybe it was because my brother Cormac, who has poured his life into coaching, was once again involved with a minor All-Ireland-winning group as was one of my very close friends Conor 'Foxy' O’Brien.
Or maybe it was because this is what sport does to us all. My father always says the GAA is an addiction and we’re all hooked through good, bad or indifferent times.
Cherish the good times whatever form they come in for you and yours.
Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship semi-finals, Kilkenny v Clare (3pm on Saturday on RTÉ One) and Limerick v Cork (4pm on Sunday on RTÉ2). Both games available on RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
