prior to throw-in, none of them answerable till after the final whistle. Was Cork's difficulty against Limerick the first crack in the edifice or a case of a team resting on its oars and catching a crab? Did the quarter-final mark the beginning of the end or, rather, the beginning of their season? Are they waving or drowning? Would a hard-fought victory today set them up perfectly for September or make inroads into their petrol reserves? Questions, questions.

First off, lazy parallels with the Kilkenny of 2004 should be resisted. Brian Cody's side averaged just over 11 points a game in the All Ireland series that year whereas the 0-19 Cork hit against Limerick is not suggestive of a team on its last legs. Yet for all that the Tribune never saw the favourites being caught a fortnight ago, the simple reality that they have too few men hurling well serves the opening statement in the case for Waterford.

Donal Og, Brian Murphy, John Gardiner, Ronan Curran, the O'Connors and Joe Deane have been shining lights. Of the others, Sean Og, Diarmuid O'Sullivan and Brian Corcoran are three who we know can be also. Today they must.

In passing: if Cork are discomfited by the growing noise of the ABC bandwagon, they can truthfully tell themselves it's nothing personal, merely a function of success. That said, the champions could do their state some service by concentrating less on convenient bootlaces to tie when the opposition build a head of steam.

Waterford's display against Tipp was their most balanced, most satisfying and most mature in modern times. It was a day when, unlike recent Croke Park, they did all the little things well and thereby weren't forced to resort to doing Superman on the big things. It was a day when, unlike on 4 June versus the same opponents, their decision-making was admirably clear-eyed; their wides tally of seven amounted to half of the Pairc Ui Chaoimh equivalent. It was a day when everybody helped to push the cart with equal force and purpose.

A brief example. In last year's All Ireland quarter-final Eoin Kelly was not merely off his game but a downright menace to his own team, overstrung to the point of throwing away the plot and conceding frees all over the place. In this year's All Ireland quarter-final Kelly was no more on his game than he had been 12 months earlier, but by keeping his cool and doing his bit he quietly contributed. A more expansive performance can be expected of him today, albeit with the added pressure of free-taking duties in the absence of Dave Bennett and Paul Flynn. Elsewhere, the Cork defence will be less than thrilled if Eoin McGrath, who for once avoided blind alleys on those jackrabbit runs of his versus Tipp, gets in behind them and turns them.

With his dash, bravery, powers of anticipation, fluency off right and left and boyish determination to get to and hurl every ball, meantime, the elder McGrath remains a joy. Elsewhere, the injury has that rendered Flynn a luxury item as opposed to head bottlewasher may be no harm for either the team or the player.

Like comedy, much of it will be in the timing this afternoon. Should Waterford, a more natural point-scoring team than Cork, arrive with a wet sail in the closing 10 minutes, they'll win and win well.

If they've blown their powder by the end of the third quarter, on the other hand, there'll only be one winner. We didn't need to see them upping the ante in the final furlong two weeks ago to know that nobody hurls better from memory than John Allen's flock.

They're 140 minutes away from becoming the most remarkable Cork team ever.

(No, dumdum, not the best Cork team ever! ) The Tribune isn't minded to oppose a winning formula. We're with them till they lose. Answers, answers.

Verdict Cork ALL IRELAND SHC SEMI-FINAL CORK v WATERFORD Croke Park, 4.0 Referee: B Gavin (Offaly) Live, RTE2, 1.40

CORK D Og Cusack; B Murphy, D O'Sullivan, P Mulcahy (c); J Gardiner, R Curran, S Og O hAilpin; T Kenny, J O'Connor; T McCarthy, N McCarthy, N Ronan; B O'Connor, B Corcoran, J Deane

WATERFORD C Hennessy; D Prendergast, T Feeney, E Murphy; T Browne, K McGrath, J Murray; B Phelan, E Kelly; D Shanahan, S Prendergast, J Kennedy; J Mullane, M Walsh, E McGrath