Kilkenny never looked in any danger against Cork yesterday and if they hurl like they did in the first 20 minutes of the game, they may as well give them the cup now, writes Nicky Englishhurling analyst

Any doubts that previously existed about Kilkenny's form and hunger on the threshold of a three-in-a-row were blown away yesterday. They played fantastic hurling and at half-time you could have handed them the MacCarthy Cup.

I thought there were vulnerabilities after the Leinster championship but that's as well as they've played in the past couple of years. Their strength and ability to win clean possession and disrupt Cork were obvious from an early stage and I felt Cork were just hanging on by their fingertips.

Henry Shefflin was the epitome of that. I thought he'd been struggling with the leg in the matches to date but yesterday he was immense. It wasn't just the scoring but the way he raises the team and encourages players individually and his driven work ethic - the way he mirrors Brian Cody's values on the field.

Their defence was excellent. Noel Hickey was as dominant as he has been for a long time against Joe Deane, and JJ Delaney got to grips with Ben O'Connor who's been Cork's best player.

One ball stands out and it was a pity to see Joe Deane in the difficulty he was in after the Indian summer he's enjoyed during this championship. Tom Kenny sent in a great delivery but Joe didn't get it with his first touch and had to go back for it.

If your first touch is in you're still not guaranteed to get away because Kilkenny are so good at getting a flick in but if you're reduced to second touch, it's over.

But all around the field Cork's first touch was poor. For them to win, everything would have had to go right and they would need goals, which they haven't been scoring, but they had no way of getting them yesterday either.

They tried hard but came up short in the forwards. Last year they came unstuck against Waterford for the same reasons and this time around the problems came back en masse. Patrick Cronin still has a lot to learn. Patrick Horgan did okay and better than some so I was surprised that he went off, but then again he never threatened a goal either.

I was delighted for Diarmuid O'Sullivan. After a very tough few matches he had two men taken off him and had his best game of the season, but overall Cork were outfought and outhurled.

It was very tense at the start and scrappy. The game took a little sorting out for a while and I think that helped Cork because once things settled down Kilkenny were going to get on top.

They had some great performances in the forwards. Eoin Larkin has played really well for them over the past couple of years and gave John Gardiner a torrid time. At one stage Gardiner's first touch let him down and Larkin nipped in and got away and had to be fouled. I'm surprised that Aidan Fogarty doesn't always start, as his unorthodox style is a nightmare for any corner back.

Kilkenny were a little bit quieter in the second half but never looked in danger. When Cork got the margin back to five in the second half they lacked the composure and firepower to put Kilkenny under real pressure and see if there were any vulnerabilities.

Then again they're proving hard to test. They didn't get a test last year either. The question is who's to test them at this stage? One negative aspect of the match was the practice of defenders throwing the ball out in front and going again at it. Jackie Tyrrell did it a few times and Michael Wadding didn't spot it at any stage. It's not just Kilkenny who do this and refs need to watch out for it more closely.

In retrospect Cork's decision to revert to the core of the 1999 team has been a mistake. They discovered last year that the team needed rebuilding but seemed to abandon the plans after the Tipperary match. They'll have to go back to the drawing board now. Where they go will take a lot of thinking because Cork need to move on if they're going to win more All-Irelands.

As for Kilkenny, I don't think there's a team in the last decade that could go with them on yesterday's form. Even in their heyday Cork played to a manufactured style and didn't have real depth in their forwards. Kilkenny have a natural style and outstanding forwards.

If they hit the same level of hurling they displayed in those 20 minutes of the first half both of the teams left would find it very hard to live with them.