All-Ireland SHC Semi-final/Clare v Kilkenny: Clare have a chance. In the early stages of last year's championship they were poor, then sauntered through the qualifiers - I don't attach huge weight to the Waterford match because it was played in Ennis - and still came within an ace of beating Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final. But they'll need to raise their game as much 12 months later.

This year, with the exception of the first 15 minutes or so against Cork, they didn't show much evidence to justify the hype that was coming out of the county about them. The flames seemed to go out fairly fast.

The evidence was that their forwards had potential but as soon as Cork pressurised them and cut down the space they were in trouble. Tony Griffin has done it for them; I think he's a very good player although I wouldn't see him as a corner forward but some of the other forwards, although very good ball-winners, ultimately need a lot of room and without it they're not as effective.

Now they're back into the semi-final with no real test, which is a major issue. Jonathan Clancy and Derek Quinn have come in since the Cork match and are additions. Between the Tipperary match last year and against Cork back in May they've only given one truly big championship performance and that was in last year's semi-final. I'm not sure - and Anthony Daly himself could be sure - of what Clare's real form is going into this.

Training can be very intense and it can look great but you need to see the players tested. Then again, if you turn the spotlight on Kilkenny, you see Brian Cody still making changes after the Leinster final and even now for an All-Ireland semi-final.

Judgments on players are being made purely on the basis of form in training.

They had no test in Leinster and the Galway challenge never really materialised - even the comeback came out of the blue and even if it raised a slight question mark I wouldn't read that much into it.

The changes suggest Cody isn't totally satisfied with what he's learned so far. That's why he and Daly are looking for this to be a humdinger of a game because Cork are tried and tested. The only question mark over them before the final is whether Neil Ronan recovers from injury in time.

The best 25 minutes hurling in the championship this year came from Kilkenny in the quarter-final, although Galway may have been poor in that period. But there was a lot of control to what they were at: finding their man, a good display from the half backs, Fitzpatrick adding a bit of quality around the middle of the field and dangerous forwards.

That there have been changes is more a reflection of the intensity at training than anything else. In one sense having options can be a problem in that you're not that settled but I felt at the start of the last day they had their best team on the field.

I'm a bit surprised that Eddie Brennan is moved into the corner because he's been their best ball-winner in the half forwards. Than again very few people are natural number 13s coming across on to their good side. Eoin Kelly is so comfortable off his left that he's a natural 13 but I couldn't see Henry Shefflin playing there. He's more a 14 or 15 and the same with Martin Comerford. The way Aidan Fogarty plays he has to be on the left side because he's more dangerous coming left to right.

For more or less the first time Cody named a dummy team against Galway but they started with their best team: Noel Hickey at full back, Comerford going to centre forward and Cha Fitzpatrick at midfield. Clare's forwards can win ball against Kilkenny, who looked vulnerable in the last quarter against Galway but the tactic that exposed them was running at them through the middle. Galway had nothing to lose and plenty of pace to run with abandon plus Kilkenny's foot was off the gas and they were a man down by that stage.

Clare don't have the players to do that. They are also more likely to score points than goals and it's hard to see how they can win on points alone because Kilkenny are always capable of scoring goals. If Clare are to win this they have to stop Kilkenny getting goals and that's a tall order.

I don't think Kilkenny are going to be able to blitz Clare early. They'll win it in the end and they'll win it by five or six points but they'll get the test that Cody's looking for. Clare are a very proud outfit and believe that they should have won the All-Ireland last year. A team with that self-belief is always going to be difficult to beat and Daly is an astute manager. Kilkenny need to be prepared for a serious test and, if they are, they have the players to win.