Inspiration can come from the most unlikely of sources, however, Cork forward Shane Kingston admits that Dublin's victory over Limerick has added to his side’s motivation ahead of the two sides meeting in the semi-finals.
Dublin pulled off the shock of the summer by beating the hot favourites in the quarter-finals, and Kingston was full of admiration for Niall Ó Ceallacháin’s side, who completed the task with just 14 men following the sending off of captain Chris Crummey early in the game.
"I watched it with a few of my buddies," said Kingston, speaking to RTÉ Sport, ahead of this Saturday's showdown. "I suppose when you see a red card after 10 or 15 minutes, you nearly think 'Oh, the game is under big pressure here'.
"But you know, it was brilliant to watch. The Dublin lads, they drove on big time. And I suppose they kind of gave us an insight of what hard work can do, especially when you're down to 14.
"They had nothing to lose, really, and they went for it, and they were rewarded."
Cork have been at their brilliant best for most of the year, winning the league and then overcoming Limerick in the Munster final, however, that Dublin performance surely resonates as a timely reminder that full focus is needed ahead of their trip to Croke Park.
The Rebels were soundly beaten earlier in the round-robin phase of Munster when they were on the end of a severe beating by Limerick, which threatened to derail their entire summer campaign.
"We weren't really at the races at all first day against Limerick," said Kingston. "I remember Rob (Downey) said in his speech after the Munster final, that we went home with our tails between our legs.
"And I think it was 16 points. So we all remember the 2021 All-Ireland, but I think that was less than 16.
"So it was obviously a very disappointing performance, but I suppose we kind of put the heads down and trained hard for the couple of weeks and just got motoring again."
That chastening in Limerick certainly does appear to have provided the required stimulus to refocus and get back on track in their quest to land Liam MacCarthy, and Kingston feels that the Munster title victory, which guaranteed a four-week break between matches, has allowed them to finesse their approach to the latter stages of the competition.
"When you have that break, it's obviously great to get working on a few things and fine-tuning some stuff that you need to," he said. "So obviously there were celebrations for one or two days and, we were kind of back at it then by the Monday night in the gym.
"It's obviously great winning a Munster title, but at the end of the day, people want to win an All-Ireland. So we knew the work wasn't done really, and we got back to business fairly quickly."
Cork also used the time to plot their approach to the semi-finals in relation to potential opponents, and while the Dublin result was a surprise, Kingston said that the squad were planning for either scenario, giving credit to the coaching staff who had done their homework.
"The guys had done their analysis and things like that on both teams, so we were able to go through that fairly swiftly the next day," said Kingston. "So regardless of who we were playing, we were kind of just focused on ourselves and getting the bank of work done in training that we needed to get done."
And now looking ahead to the last-four clash, with a place in this year’s decider up for grabs, Kingston believes that the team will suffer no ill-effects of their four-week break and will be raring to go come throw-in on Saturday.
"I suppose it comes down to the training really and making sure that you're keeping the training at that level or driving it on," he said.
"Trying to improve every session and, bringing that level of intensity and attitude to each session.
"With a four-week gap, you can maybe take the foot off the pedal for a week or two, but the way the competition is, you just have to focus on every session and maximise it.
"The Cork fans are always brilliant to travel, and Dublin haven't been in a semi-final since 2013, so they're going to have a massive crowd as well. But yeah, looking forward to it, and I'm sure it'll be a great game."
Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship semi-finals with RTÉ Sport. Cork v Dublin on Saturday from 4.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player and Kilkenny v Tipperary on Sunday from 3.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
Follow live blogs on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to commentaries on RTÉ Radio 1. Watch highlights on The Sunday Game at 10.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
