The temptation is to label Michael Cussen as Cork's Kieran Donaghy but that would be unfair on either player. Okay, they're both big men, but Cussen has neither Donaghy's athleticism nor his kicking ability, while his fist-passes tend to be back out the field rather than threading balls through to goal-side colleagues. What he does offer is an outlet to Cork's middle eight and a source of breakdown ball to keep Masters and Donncha O'Connor around the D rather than straying outside their shooting range. The key will be to use Cussen judiciously. Before the Tipperary game, Billy Morgan warned his players not to hit Cussen every time, but then at half-time rightly jumped on them for not hitting Cussen at all. In the second half Cork got the balance right, even if their attack seemed most coherent when Cussen was replaced by Bernie Collins in the closing minutes.

Why Daniel Goulding wasn't also given playing time that day is baffling. He might be only 21 but he's the best under-21 finisher in the country let alone county, and has shown in the last two league clashes in the county as well at under-21 level that he thrives on playing Kerry. For Cork to win they need Goulding on in the last 20 minutes.

There are other reasons for optimism in Cork. Canty's return.

Noel O'Leary's curbed enthusiasm. The size and strength of the half-forward line (true, it won't win an All Ireland final but Munster finals in Killarney are more about perspiration than inspiration around that middle eight). But then you have to factor in who they're playing. Tom�s � S� is reportedly training like a man possessed. Gooch is on fire. In the other corner, Mike Frank took Kildare for five points.

Mich�el Quirke's mobility and stamina is suspect but there are doubts about Anthony Lynch's and Nicholas Murphy's capacity to shake off recent injuries too. Overall Kerry have the greater fluency upfront and more options off the bench when the pace inevitably hits full whack.

Verdict Kerry by three KERRY D Murphy; P Reidy, T O'Sullivan, M � S�; T � S�, A O'Mahony, K Young; D � S�, M Quirke; D O'Sullivan, E Brosnan, P Galvin; C Cooper, K Donaghy, MF Russell CORK P O'Shea; M Shields, G Canty, K O'Connor; N O'Leary, G Spillane, A Lynch; D Kavanagh, N Murphy; F Gould, P O'Neill, K McMahon; J Masters, M Cussen, D O'Connor