The All-Ireland SHC final is truly the day of days for hurling enthusiasts around the world. However, it's also an occasion that captivates even the most casual sports fan, with its inherent interest and excitement.
Often described as the fastest game in the world played on grass, it was even featured by CNN some years ago in their top 10 sporting events to witness live.
It's simply a special day for so many, and when your own county are involved, it becomes all the more extraordinary.
I treasure and appreciate the times I had as a player the most on All-Ireland final day and realise just how lucky a young lad from a small parish like Ballinahinch was to get to run out in front of over 80,000 people on these days.
Nothing beats playing, nothing touches it – these players don't know it now, but these are some of the greatest times in their lives.
Someday they will, and they’ll smile.
The excitement has been building nicely.
The rush for tickets has been intense, but it's a first-world problem in the grand scheme of things when you're involved in it all, getting messages from people you haven't spoken to in years, all wanting to be there on this most special of days.
It's a great 'complaint' to have, and one that many other counties would kill to be in that position.
In the football final, it's fairly unanimous that the two best teams are in the final.
While many might say the same isn't true for the hurling, these two teams are there on merit; they've earned the right to fight it out for Liam MacCarthy.
When the history books are written for 2025, it will simply say Cork or Tipperary in the space provided for winners – nothing else.
If you'd sat down with someone for Christmas dinner in 2024 and the conversation turned to hurling, specifically Tipperary's prospects for 2025, and you'd asked what a good year would look like for the senior hurlers, many, if not all, would have simply said, 'Just get out of Munster'.
That, they'd have agreed, would be real progress.
Now, imagine if it had been suggested that not only would they get out of Munster, but they'd also beat Galway in the quarter-finals and Kilkenny in the semi-finals. Honestly, for many Tipp hurling people, the response would likely have been, 'That's a bit far-fetched now, isn't it?'
Yet, here we are, in the All-Ireland final. It's been a brilliant year for Tipp hurling, with this senior group excelling and our Under-20s being crowned All-Ireland champions. But the way it is in Tipp, many will now be saying, 'Sure, we have to win it now.'
Isn't it incredible to think we've gone from hoping to simply get out of Munster to now demanding to be All-Ireland champions?
What a testament to this group of players and management that we are even in this position this Sunday.
Like the hotdog man following Homer Simpson, there are people hoping to put their kids through college on the back of selling Tipp merchandise on the streets and footpaths of towns around Tipperary this week.
And no doubt, the excitement levels and hype around the Rebel County have reached fever pitch also.
There's a palpable hope around Tipperary that we can do it, but there's an overwhelming expectation around Cork that they are going to do it.
With great expectation comes great pressure (and some bad life decisions too, I must say, in the form of tattoos!).
If this game is still there for the taking come minute 60 on Sunday, I honestly do feel that Tipp will relish that and the freedom they will feel in comparison to their Cork counterparts.
That could just be the edge to get over the line.
Of course, Tipp will want to win this; that's a given. But what I'm saying here is that while the Tipp players need the win, for themselves and all they have put into this, Cork have to win this, and if they don't it will be seen as a massive failure.
Whereas for Tipp, while it would be devastating to lose – what All-Ireland loss isn't, after all – Tipp are coming and will continue to be competitive now in the coming years.
Super progress has been made, and the Tipp public are back supporting the Blue and Gold in numbers I have not seen in a long time, because of the honesty and pride they have all shown throughout this year.
Sunday is a day for them to just go and express themselves with freedom on the greatest stage of all.
Cork are undeniably the form team coming into this; they are the best they have been for a long time. The internal competition for places, even on the match day panel, is driving this form higher and higher every day.
The conundrum for Tipp is this: while the match-ups all over the field are important, the main question will be, how do we hold their full-forward line?
That is the hardest question Liam Cahill and co will have to answer.
The options are as follows:
Option one: Go man-on-man with their forwards and follow wherever they go.
Their half-forward line drifts out the field, we follow, and now you have fifty yards of space in Croke Park against the most lethal full-forward line in hurling at present.
Option two: You sit someone in that pocket to cut off that space, allow a midfielder a deeper defending role, and hope that work rate becomes war out the field to not allow much, if any, time on that ball for delivery.
For me, it must be option two here. Anyone allowing that much space in front of that full-forward line, given the form they are in, is simply asking for trouble.
If this is a shootout, then one team wins, and Liam MacCarthy returns to Leeside for the first time in 20 years.
If this becomes a war, and it is close by the time Tipp start unleashing their bench, then Tipp have a real chance of upsetting all the best-laid plans for celebrations in Cork on Monday night.
So, who do I think will win?
This Tipp team have shown us time and time again this year that they are up for the fight. They have mental strength, and when it comes to it, they are a very good hurling team.
Cork have ticked all those boxes and more this year too.
However, something is at me to say that finals take on a life of their own.
Form leading up to that throw-in isn't worth any score on Sunday; it's all decided on one day.
I just feel that Tipp will get the match-ups right, and they will perform, and that Tipp will win, just about.
And if they do, I will gladly battle through the crowds to bring my kids over to Semple Stadium on Monday evening to listen to The Two Johnnies or Louise Morrissey, or anyone at all, belt out Slievenamon to us all.
Wherever you are in the world, whatever your age or belief, enjoy it all.
It's one of the greatest days on the sporting calendar, and it creates memories for a lifetime.
Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship final, Cork v Tipperary, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1. Watch highlights on The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
