Analysis: Cork did to us what we'd done to Tipp. I was disappointed with Clare - they must have known that Cork would be fired up. All the talk has been that the Cork '99 team hadn't delivered on its promise. Then you had the strike. They didn't take matters into their own hands without realising that the public reaction would be very critical if they lost, writes Anthony Daly.

Clare didn't match them for hunger and that was always going to be fatal.

The one worry for Cork is that they had to move their full back. But Ronan Curran looked a natural at centre back, John Gardiner is into his second season and settling and Mickey O'Connell always seems to hurl well against Clare.

Setanta Ó hAilpín is a real find. Sometimes in the past you could physically impose yourself on the Cork full forwards, like Joe Deane or Seánie McGrath, but he's a fine cut of a man and has the makings of an ideal full forward.

Looking at it one way you'd feel that Clare might have done better if Seánie McMahon had been playing.

The half-time gap would have been smaller and, with Clare starting the second half so well, particularly if Gilly had struck that goal, it would have been more of a worry for Cork.

Waterford have their own worries. If you took Paul Flynn out of it the last day, they wouldn't have won. He's named on the wing and that could be for real to avoid the Cork corner backs, keep him away from Wayne Sherlock and Diarmuid O'Sullivan and put him on Tom Kenny, a new and inexperienced player.

If he is to start in the full-forward line, I'd say it could be full forward. But Cork moved O'Sullivan in when Barry Murphy got on top of Pat Mulcahy in the second half against Clare.

The suspicion I'd have about Waterford is that they're not as mentally strong as they should be. Last year they should have done better after winning their first Munster title. They were playing a Clare side coming through the back door that had just scraped past Galway.

And in the new Croke Park. On the old pitch you could understand it, if Clare had dogged them out of it.

If Waterford had been in last year's All-Ireland I don't think tomorrow would be quite as important. But I think there's still a doubt about them - including in their own minds - as serious All-Ireland contenders. The Clare defeat last year would have added to those little doubts.

Would they be confident of beating Tipperary if they played them again in a couple of weeks? Paul Flynn had two good games, but there are question marks over the others. Tony Browne needs to be firing on all cylinders and Waterford will be worried about him being less than fully fit.

Ken McGrath went to centrefield in the second Limerick game and won crucial ball when he went there, but he wasn't the player we'd hope to see at his best. Dave Bennett is a player who can absolutely dazzle you on a good day and leave people asking "who's he?", but he can go missing as well. That's a worry for Waterford if Wayne Sherlock is putting his chest out and banging ball up the field. If Cork's defence starts to dominate, who's going to pick it up out the field for Waterford?

Deep down, Cork will have doubts of their own so it will be an awful battle of minds, a matter of whoever sticks it out for the longest. A good lot of Cork's scores came at the end after Clare had capitulated. It was still a good beating, but Clare had given up. Unless Cork can battle it out and win a match by two points or so they won't have fully proved themselves.

I'd be surprised if Waterford didn't pay special attention to the way that Cork warmed down on the field at the end of the Clare semi-final. I was watching, more to see how down our fellas were and what chance there was of picking it up six days later, when I saw Cork heading up to their supporters.

Fair enough I thought. But the warm-up routine was unnecessary. It would be valid for rugby or soccer where you have professionals who have to train the next day.

Even if I felt that a hurling team had to warm down immediately I'd make sure it was four miles down the road.

Will they do it if they win tomorrow? Would they have done it the last day if they'd lost? If I was a Waterford player I'd be asking: "Do we really want to be standing in the middle of Semple Stadium after losing a Munster final watching Cork warming down?"

Waterford have pound-for-pound the best attack in Munster, but Cork backs are also the best. There's plenty of fine forwards on view and not much rivalry, but it still looks like a backs' game.

I expect Cork to edge it.

In an interview with Seán Moran