Kilkenny had some issues coming out of the Leinster final and it was hard to be totally impressed by their performance. In mitigation, it could be argued that Wexford were so poor it must have been very hard for Kilkenny hurlers to maintain any decent level of concentration. That's the only excuse you could make and the team selection shows Brian Cody doesn't really buy it.

It's very unusual to see Kilkenny make four changes coming out of a Leinster final they won easily and proves that in Cody's eyes the Wexford game hardly moved them at all down the road of finding his best 15.

Galway are in a similar position, if not even more uncertain. Whoever wins should at least know their team by tonight. Both are going in with similar preparations and the result: you come out with a settled team or don't come out at all. I thought Galway would use Joe Canning in some capacity, even if the history of minors playing senior is littered with debris. Canning is physically stronger than Eoin Kelly was as a minor and he played senior for Tipp at that age.

Kilkenny's full-back line looked unbalanced in the Leinster final and Michael Kavanagh had to come on for Donnacha Cody. That's been a huge pressure on Cody senior because it's a very difficult situation personally, just as it's been awkward to drop two clubmen, his son and captain Jackie Tyrrell. I was surprised at James Ryall coming in for Tyrrell, as I felt the latter played quite well in the Leinster final, but Cody places a lot of importance on how players are going in training and I'm sure Ryall must be showing up better.

There's still a question about the placings of Noel Hickey and JJ Delaney. Hickey is more suited to full back and Delaney to wing back. That balance is delicate enough and although Wexford were in no position to exploit it, Galway have Damien Hayes and Niall Healy who could. The threat to Kilkenny is that Galway have pace and mobility up front and in last year's All-Ireland semi-final made those advantages count.

Another surprise was the omission of Michael Fennelly, who I would have played in midfield after his display as a sub the last day. Maybe it's because his best position is number seven and Tommy Walsh is there. I'm glad for Walsh he's at last getting a settled run in the one position because he's suffered for his versatility over the years and I wouldn't disturb him. On this year's form he's the best left wing back around.

Richie Power is a huge loss to Kilkenny in attack. He's tall, very skilful and very quick and could have slotted in anywhere, even at number 11. I can't see "Cha" Fitzpatrick playing there again as selected. The Galway half-back line of Hardiman, Kavanagh and Collins is very forceful and Kilkenny will need to be able to win more ball there than they seemed to be able to do in the Leinster final.

Again, the dropping of Michael Rice surprised me because I thought he came into the match well at the end and offers ball winning options. But against that, Eddie Brennan carried that can there for most of the day and he's not and never has been a natural ball winner so I can see Martin Comerford coming to the half-forward line this evening and his form the last day was very good.

Aidan Fogarty is back in the team after injury and I was extremely impressed with him during the league.

He'll bring a definite improvement: he's quick, a good ball winner and a good finisher.

If Kilkenny are an unfinished rebuilding work, Galway seem to have gone from reaching an All-Ireland final last year with a settled team to experiencing doubts about whether they're good enough. The qualifier defeat in Walsh Park against Waterford threw up more problems and they had to replace three of their forwards even though they scored 2-20. Damien Hayes and David Forde seemed to be the only constants.

That said, I like the look of the team named given the uncertainty. It's a back-to-basics lineout and has a lot of pace up front, which is a threat to Kilkenny's backs. Galway are dangerous opponents for anybody. Their scoring power is huge and Kilkenny will be trying to exert more control on the match than they managed last year. There's only one team can beat Galway in a scoring free-for-all and that's Waterford.

The key for Galway is to keep the pressure on the Kilkenny defence and disrupt their half forwards. If Kilkenny achieve a measure of control at the back and stop it being a high scoring match and if they win a reasonable share of possession in the half forwards they'll win. There's no better manager at creating motivation out of a previous defeat than Cody and I think he'll make Galway pay for 2005.

If the other of today's quarter-finals had been played at the beginning of the championship after Limerick's display in the league final the consensus would have been: watch out, Cork. But the past couple of months have changed all that. Without being spectacular Cork did enough to win the Munster final and maintain the form of their half backs, midfield and Joe Deane up front.

They have some areas of concern. Diarmuid O'Sullivan has looked vulnerable in both matches so far. Alan Markham gave him trouble against Clare and in the Munster final Diarmaid Fitzgerald got a couple of great goal chances, which because of the excellence of Donal Óg Cusack weren't converted. The half forwards are an ongoing concern and the selectors have gone against their convention by starting Neil Ronan, who they've always kept in reserve up to now. He isn't your typical, ball-winning wing forward.

Limerick had a disaster against Clare but recovered to win the other matches. Winning well in Tullamore was a good result but Offaly aren't really up to the standard at this stage and you'd have to have doubts about the Limerick form. Richie Bennis has taken over mid-season, which is a hard thing to do, but he's retained virtually the same personnel.

TJ Ryan is moved from full back to wing forward but it's hard to see him, Niall Moran and Mike O'Brien making an impact on the best half backs in the game.

If you ran a form line through Tipp you could maybe give them a chance but a lot has happened since then and I don't see anything other than a Cork win.