And, of course, he's right.

Meath-Dublin will get higher ratings. But then, a large majority of Americans in 2003 thought Iraq was directly involved in the 9/11 attacks.

Five hundred years ago, 100 per cent of the world's population thought the place was flat.

It depends what you're into . . . propaganda and myth, or reality and substance.

Reality: as thoroughly enjoyable and necessary as Dublin-Meath was for Championship 2007 (and, for that matter, Championship 2005) after some gruelling, nighunwatchable high-profile games in previous weeks, and as romantic and brilliant as its backstory is with the saga of '91 and all that, if there is one show in town today, it's Thurles. Only Armagh-Tyrone rivals Cork-Waterford as the great GAA rivalry of the new century, its 2005 All Ireland semi-final the equal of Cork and Waterford's 2006, but even it falls short.

We'll go one further. Even the Dublin-Kerry rivalry of the '70s, as much as it's rightly celebrated, falls way short.

The '77 semi-final classic apart, all the fun in that rivalry was when they weren't playing rather than when they were. The relationship was all foreplay and post-coital; too often, the act itself was onesided, an anti-climax. Cork and Waterford ebbs and flows, another twist always around the corner. Only once in the Dublin-Kerry saga . . . again, that '77 classic . . . did the side ahead at half-time fail to go on and win the game. In CorkWaterford, the side ahead at half-time has never won! Only once . . . again, '77 . . . was there less than five points between Dublin and Kerry; this century, there's never been more than five points, in league or championship, between Cork and Waterford.

In case you need to be reminded, or like us, want to be reminded, let's roll it. 2002:

Ken coming on with the bandaged shoulder to bang over the winning point. 2003:

Setanta, John Mullane's three goals and two fingers. 2004:

Cork's 1-14 against the wind, Mullane's sending off and Flynn's "dipper". 2005: Brian Corcoran's goal in Thurles, his drop-shot in Croker. 2006:

Naughton's strike and leap;

Ken's free and Donal Og Cusack's wonder leap.

"The games are some experience to play in, " says Waterford's James Murray, "because the atmosphere is always brilliant. I can't ever remember it getting really niggly. It's all about the ball and that's when you get the best of the games.

I've never seen any negative elements to it off the pitch either."

In Every Single Ball Brian Corcoran concurred that every clash between the pair "is always a game of ball", but other passages of his book has meant a negative element might have crept into it. In February, Gerald McCarthy tried to diffuse it by stating his disappointment with the infamous 'Our World, Their World' poster, claiming it wrongly portrayed that Cork players looked down on Waterford, but McCarthy must know that in a way they do.

On the eve of these past two All Ireland finals, Diarmuid O'Sullivan gave interviews to the Evening Echo, a paper McCarthy was writing a column for at the same time. In 2005, O'Sullivan expressed his admiration for John Mullane but not his sympathy.

"What do people want us to do? Walk up and hand it to them? Being straight down the line, they haven't got the results, they've faltered on a few occasions and they've got to earn it." Twelve months later, he was singing the same tune after another epic in Croke Park. "I've no sympathy again for them. The old saying is 'Games are there to be won' so if you're good enough you win them and they just weren't good enough.

"I admire them in a way.

There are a couple of guys on their team I'd like to have on our side of the fence, definitely. I'd admire their style of play and the way they approach the game, but I'd have no great love for them, like.

"What drives me mad about it is the media thing. Every year it's 'Waterford deserve to win an All Ireland.' You don't deserve to win f*** all! You get out of it what you put into it and they're obviously not putting enough into it. They've enough quality players to win it but there's always a 'but' with them and that doesn't sit with me."

And that's what's galled Waterford. The truth hurts.

"There's always a 'but'." The poster: "Relying on luck.

Blaming others." If Ken's free had gone over, if Flynn had been fit; the list is endless. It was said of another man with Deise roots, Mick McCarthy, that he never acknowledged the good luck he encountered, only the bad, and the same applies to his father's countymen; the perfectly good goal Tipp had disallowed before half-time in the 2002 Munster final, Eoin Kelly not being put off against the same opposition in 2004, Eoin Kelly's point for Tipp the same day which Stephen Brenner admits he got the umpire to wave wide; when last did you hear of them in Waterford . . . or Tipp . . . company?

Cork admire Waterford, but they've looked at some of their players and their tendencies like Eoin Kelly's temperament and Paul Flynn's body-fat ratio and it's why admiration has not transferred into respect.

This year it's different. Losing to Cork last year hurt Justin McCarthy more than any game since the 1972 All Ireland final, and hurt his players more than the semi-final defeats in '98, '02 and '04 combined. The poster has stirred them too, because for every comment that was unfair ("Bringing others down to their level"), another was true.

In February, Eoin Kelly initially said the difference last August was "the rub of the green" but then checked himself: "This year we want to earn that rub of the green."

They are. For years McCarthy resisted technology as O'Grady and Allen called their players over to their laptops;

now every Waterford game is videoed and every Waterford player gets his DVD. They've gone to Portugal, parked the league.

Today will be different too.

Some of the great duels of previous year's . . . Sean Og against Big Dan, Sully and Flynn, Corcoran and Feeney . . . won't play out today, but another one will.

Justin and Gerald McCarthy have been great friends and teammates but they're rivals too. Gerald has been rightly credited for his role in the renaissance of Waterford but Justin would have reason to feel it's been overplayed; the reality is that in July 2001, he inherited the fifth team in Munster with an ageing backline as much as a promising forward one. You hear a lot of people say Gerald's work from '97 to '01 set the groundwork for Justin's successes yet how many people have publicly said Justin's work in '75 was the foundation for Cork's three-in-a-row from '76 to '78? Just one. Ironically but fittingly, Gerald McCarthy.

Ultimately though, they're only another battle and storyline in the bigger war and picture . . . Cork-Waterford.

"When we meet, " said Corcoran in a comment some commentators selectively forget, "always, hurling wins. If we're Ali, they're our Frazier." Today the heavyweights get it on again. Why would you watch anything else?

CORK AND WATERFORD: TRENDS OF RIVALRY

1. WIN THE SECOND HALF, NOT THE FIRST After Dan Shanahan scored a point from a stray Sean Og O hAilpin sideline cut last August, Brian Corcoran frowned, then smiled. It meant the sides were level at half-time, and in the five previous championship games between the sides, the team ahead at half-time lost the game. The key is the second half. In the last 12 CorkWaterford clashes, the side who has won the second half has won, period.

2. WHO SCORES THE MOST POINTS, WINS Look at the recent scorelines between the pair of them. This year's league: 1-19 to 1-16, 0-16 to 0-12. Or their latest championship clashes: 1-16 to 115, 1-18 to 1-13, 2-17 to 2-15.

Notice something? Only once in their last six championship games has one side out-goaled the other . . . the 2004 Munster final. Only once in their last six league games has one side outgoaled the other . . . when last year Cork's 2-15 was easily swamped by Waterford's 0-25.

In other words, these sides rarely out-goal each other. It's who out-points the other who wins. Mind, the timing of goals is significantf

3. WHO SCORES THE LAST GOAL WINS One of last year's most puzzling comments was Justin McCarthy (right) saying his team "scored our goal at the wrong time" in the All Ireland semi-final, yet he was right. In the last six championship clashes between these sides, the side who scored the last goal of the game has won.