But congratulations to Cork also. They lost the match but they didn't lose their honour. They failed to do the three-in-a-row but to arrive within 70 minutes of it, and to reach their fourth successive All Ireland final to boot, was an immense achievement. The former champions have given their supporters, and the general hurling public at large, some memorable afternoons since 1999.

Much as I'm tempted to use the phrase "they haven't gone away, you know", common sense says that Cork will disappear from the limelight for the next nine months. They have to be worn out at this stage. What's more, they have every right to be. They deserve a rest. What is worrying from their point of view, however, is that the county's underage success in recent years has not been anything like as notable as Kilkenny's has been. Perhaps Cork may struggle to sustain the pace they've been setting at senior level.

It's difficult to be critical of them after last week, just as it was difficult to be critical of Kilkenny in the wake of the 2004 All Ireland final. The fate that befell Kilkenny then was exactly the same fate as befell Cork seven days ago.

Both were overpowered by fresher, hungrier opponents.

Same situation, reversed roles.

To their eternal credit, John Allen's side fought to the bitter end. They lost by only three points where most other teams would have lost by 10. It's easy to say that they should have done this or that differently on the day; the simple truth is that Kilkenny didn't allow them to. But the longer the game wore on, the more Cork's play resembled the cattle rush that takes place at the end of The Field. They were persisting with a gameplan that clearly wasn't working and in doing so were heading for the edge of the cliff, careering to their doom.

That said, I genuinely don't believe there was any remedial action Allen and his selectors could have taken that would have made a significant difference. It was as though Kilkenny were smothering them with a giant blanket all over the pitch, from James McGarry at one end to Aidan Fogarty at the other. Talking of Fogarty, the Urlingford lad with the unorthodox style, the unknown in the forward line of big names, proved to be the man who was the gamebreaker.

Although they did everything else right, Kilkenny needed one of their attackers to make the difference and put the scores on the board. Fogarty was that man. He joins a list of unorthodox inside forwards who've made their mark in big games. Precisely because he holds his hurley differently, Fogarty's shot for the goal may have been harder to read and save than one by an ordinary right-hand-on-top player would have been.

Cork's other problem, paradoxical though this sounds, was that their own gameplan didn't misfire utterly. It worked for them in spasms and yielded them a number of well-crafted scores, generally involving Niall McCarthy and the O'Connors. So they kept at it, as they had every right to. The gameplan had worked again and again for them over the past three seasons. Even if there was an element about them last Sunday of King Canute trying to hold back the waves, they were entitled to stick with it in the belief that it would eventually come right for them.

Against a team less motivated than Kilkenny, it might have. Then again, no other team in Ireland would have lived with Kilkenny on the day. Hunger has a thirst alright. For red and white blood, it seems.

Many people, including myself, have been critical of Cork's short-passing game. Last Sunday may have marked its sell-by date, although elements of the approach will remain. That's good; fresh thinking makes the game more interesting. Puck-outs, which for years resembled attempts in a long-puck competition, have changed thanks to Donal Og Cusack. Players nowadays cannot afford to drop their concentration when the goalie has the ball. Neither for that matter can spectators if they want to understand what's going on.

All in all, Cork have brought a new dimension to the ancient game, just as Pat Delaney gave us the hop-off-the ground solo run, DJ Carey specialised in the dummy handpass and the Wexford team of the 1950s championed high catching. Who would change any of these facets of the game now? Hurling has been all the better for the success of this Cork team.

It's been all the better for the presence these past two seasons of their manager as well, and seven days ago John Allen excelled himself with his graciousness in defeat during his post-match interviews. I'm not sure I'd have been able to even speak in similar circumstances.

While many people still hanker for the excitement of the mid-1990s, perhaps some of us had too much to say for ourselves at the time. It's been nice to have a quiet, softly-spoken gentleman around the place.

lgriffin@tribune. ie