Judging by the winners' excitement afterwards, this Leinster quarter-final success was worth as much to them as a provincial title would be worth to other counties.

Unfortunately some commentators just don't get it. Of course Westmeath aren't going to beat Kilkenny next time out. Of course they're not going to win the All Ireland. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't have the right to compete for the McCarthy Cup. I don't see too many people saying that all those counties who have no hope of winning the All Ireland football title this year . . . of which there are many . . . ought to be barred from entering, or casting aspersions on the presence of the likes of Togo and Angola at the World Cup next month.

The fact of the matter is that Westmeath have done exactly what it was hoped they'd do on foot of winning the Christy Ring Cup last year. They've taken their new status seriously, they've worked hard and they reaped their reward at O'Moore Park seven days ago. Now they'll finish the summer having played a minimum of five championship matches, three of them at home. What a quantum leap for Westmeath hurling. What an opportunity for them to make progress. What an example to the young hurlers of the county, who the Westmeath county board should bus to Cusack Park for each of those three home games. What a boost to the game in general. Great!

Cork versus Clare is a fascinating prospect at Semple Stadium today. Clare will have a good chance of winning if they stop the Cork forwards performing.

They'll have an even better chance of winning if they stop the Cork backs performing. It's an unusual observation to make, but then this Cork outfit is an unusual team.

Think of the great hurling teams of the past and it's odds-on that the first member of each that springs to mind is a forward. Eddie Keher with the Kilkenny team of the 1970s; Jimmy Doyle with Tipperary in the 1960s; Nicky Rackard and Christy Ring and Mick Mackey with Wexford and Cork and Limerick respectively in earlier eras. Not so with the current Cork side, whose real strength is located in defence. Diarmuid O'Sullivan, John Gardiner (right) and Sean Og O hAilpin are the obvious above-theline names in this Cork team, a remark that also applies to Donal Og Cusack.

Cusack isn't the best goalie in Ireland but he is certainly, and in so many ways, the most influential.

Yet to underestimate John Allen's forward line would be foolish. Bad forwards don't reach three All Ireland finals in succession or win two of them.

Cork's overriding virtue up front is that they have no one forward who's head and shoulders above the other five. Any one of the sextet can, and does, chip in with vital scores on a given day. Besides, their midfield of Tom Kenny and Jerry O'Connor play a more significant role than most counties' midfield pairings do, especially in the scoring department. When Kenny or O'Connor surges upfield, Cork have a seventh forward. If the All Ireland champions don't possess attacking magic, they're undoubtedly blessed with midfield and defensive magic.

Clare's forward line is the biggest we've seen in modern times. There's no question but that it's been built with an eye to neutralising Cork, not least in the half-forward line.

This sector has been designed to win Davy Fitz's puckouts, or at any rate to stop the opposition half-backs doing so. Tony Carmody has grown into the role at number 11; few will need reminding how well he did against Ronan Curran in last year's All Ireland semi-final.

Tony Griffin is another strapping forward who can hurl. In fact, the beginning of Tipperary's recent problems at centreback, and the beginning of the end of David Kennedy's intercounty career, can be traced to the six points Griffin scored against Tipp in the 2002 Munster quarter-final at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

This is the day for the two Tonys to produce the goods in tandem. If Clare are to win silverware in 2006 and beyond, Carmody and Griffin are the men who must take the baton from the likes of the Lohans and Seanie McMahon.

The challengers have reverted to Loughnane type by naming a dummy team. Brian Lohan may not start at fullback, while it's unlikely that Alan Markham . . . whose greatest influence for Clare in the past few years has been in defence (remember him as the extra defender versus Kilkenny in 2004? ) and who may well have a significant part to play in that zone today . . . will spend much time at centre-forward.

Nor do I doubt that Clare and their manager are driven men. But the same goes for Cork and John Allen. And make no mistake, the champions will want to win this All Ireland through the front door, not the back door. A three-in-a-row in which two of the titles were won by the back door would be a tarnished three-ina-row.

The battle lines have been drawn. A driven Clare take on a driven Cork.

Clare will try to cut off Cork's supply at source. Cork will try to expose Clare's lack of genuine pace. Have Cork sufficient hunger? Have Clare sufficient mobility? Which of them learned more from last year's All Ireland semi-final?

Every successful team eventually reaches its tipping point. Although the moment at which they do so is difficult to predict, I don't think Cork are standing on the precipice just yet. Later this year, possibly, but not today.

Cork to win. Clare to come through the back door and haunt a lot of teams before the summer is out. Long live the back door.