There's no doubt the Tipperary attack has suffered with the fact that Brian O'Meara is not playing. He is one of their class players and he is certainly going to be a big loss to them. But I also feel his absence could motivate the Tipperary forwards that bit more. You will have players now who will want to give that bit extra, and will do that bit more. Overall, though, they are more limited in their options in the forward line. With John Leahy already lost they will be looking more to players like Eugene O'Neill and Aidan Butler, who have been around a while but still don't quite have the experience. That is one thing that will worry Nicky English.

Still, they have some deadly forwards in there. Eoin Kelly has been extremely accurate this year and is a very reliable free taker but there's more to it than that. He can put the ball over the bar but you have to do a lot more than that in an All-Ireland final. But even though Kelly is still only 19, you just have to be impressed with him. He has a natural ability and I saw him against the Limerick minors last year and he scored a goal and 12 points. Most of those were from frees but he is still very dangerous. Declan Ryan is also a key man but he has got to produce a big game. So far this summer he has been steady and has been playing at a certain level but he must raise his game that bit more. He is the most experienced in there and if he can raise his game another 15 or 20 per cent then I think Tipperary have a great chance.

When you look at the Galway defence, there is also a mixture of youth and experience. New players in there like Derek Hardiman are fast and hungry and overall, the Galway half back line played extremely well against Kilkenny.

Cathal Moore has gone in at left half back and that tactic seems to have worked. He has played very well there in the two games this summer, and I don't think Kilkenny expected the fire and fury the Galway defence showed.

The most important thing about the Galway defence is if the team want to win, they have got to produce the same performance level against Tipperary as they did against Kilkenny. What you saw then was all of Kilkenny's reliable players being completely knocked off their game and unable to perform.

That element of surprise is gone and Tipperary will be expecting the same high level of commitment from the Galway backs. That is sure to make it an intriguing battle but most of all I hope there will be some good hurling between the two sides.