CORK V TIPPERARY: Keith Duggansays despite their league success, Tipperary are fully aware of the massive task facing them in Páirc Uí Chaoimh tomorrow.

NO MATTER what happens in the venerable old bowl of Páirc Uí Chaoimh tomorrow, it is hard to imagine what more Liam Sheedy could have done to prepare Tipperary for the task of sacking Cork. No team have played with such an obvious sense of purpose and togetherness as Tipperary have this season. That honesty was reflected in the outpouring of goodwill and genuine celebration that swept across the stand at Thurles in the minutes after their thrilling National League final win over Galway.

But even as he calmly praised his team that evening in late April, Liam Sheedy had a tentative and faraway look in his eyes. He had taken the precaution of smuggling the team out of the country to shield them from any sense of satisfaction the league might bring: the players had their alarms set for 4.30 in the morning to catch a dawn flight to Portugal that Monday.

Since the league, Sheedy has gone to great lengths to qualify any significance he ascribes to Tipperary's spring achievements.

The championship has a cruel habit of leaving teams and managers exposed after the illusory benefits of league success.

With Tipperary, Sheedy had to strike a delicate balance, trying to restore confidence to a squad that had endured a shattering championship while timing it so they hit a peak of confidence and fitness for this match. Since the middle of the league, Tipperary players have been talking about June 8th, like a mantra.

Tipperary have not beaten Cork in Munster since 1991, when Michael Cleary and Pat Fox went ballistic in a Munster final replay in Semple Stadium that finished 4-18 to 4-15. Cork were the reigning All-Ireland champions and Tipperary succeeded them a few months later. That series is part of the received history that the younger Tipperary players have soaked up down the years but Cork have dominated the rivalry since then.

"We haven't talked about that as a group," says Conor O'Mahony, whose imagination was first stirred by this contest when he saw Tommy Dunne leading a Tipperary team around the field. "Cork won that day too," he remembers.

"Cork and Tipperary brings its own buzz to the game; you hear of all the great games down the years. I think everyone is working hard as a group. It is hard to say that this is the best we have been but we started off winning early on and got confident from that. That brings its own momentum - we are probably working a bit harder off the field as well.

"Losing to Wexford in Croke Park last summer was hard to take. And we had to deal with the three-game saga against Limerick too. Limerick got to build on that and went to an All-Ireland final. We have had to start again.

"You look at Cork now; they have All-Stars and All-Ireland medals. They are the top players in the country at the moment and they have young players coming through. They will be hard to beat."

There is no disguising it - 17 years without a Munster championship victory against Cork has been tempered by the fact that they enjoyed a notable qualifier success last year, the one bright note of a turbulent summer. But they have not beaten Cork in Cork since 1922. In addition, Cork have looked highly determined and dangerous since their late entry into the league, as if they are hellbent on getting the most out of a season that at one time was jeopardised. The legend of their steady and superior second-half comeback against Galway in the league semi-final has grown more daunting as the weeks have passed.

"Let's say it hasn't gone unnoticed," acknowledges Liam Sheedy, who says he never feared for Cork's participation in this year's All-Ireland championship.

"That never crossed my mind. It has been well documented and put aside at this stage. The last time they had a bit of a mish-mash, we saw that every other team in the country paid for it for the rest of that year.

"Cork and Kilkenny have been the top two teams in the overall context of hurling and nobody would want to win the All-Ireland without one of the top contenders involved. So we are under no illusions. Whether you look at the long-term statistic or the short term, they have had the better of it against us. This is the toughest task the team has faced.

"But if you go back to 2005, 2006 and 2007, there has never been a case where Tipperary were beaten off the park. You are talking about one or two scores. If you look at the five teams in Munster, I don't think there is a lot between them. Go back to the Munster finals between Tipp and Cork, I think it was a goal in both instances. The challenge for us is to step on and move up a gear. It is all very well being top of the charts in April."

Even in his playing days, Sheedy had half an eye on management, taking charge of the north Tipperary under-16 team. It was his period in charge of the intermediate squad and, in particular, the minor team that made him the frontrunner for the senior post. By the time the league began, it was clear the players were intent on impressing the new management team.

"There is a good spirit there," says Eamonn Corcoran, one of the remaining members from Tipperary's 2001 All-Ireland-winning team. "People have finally clicked that you can go through the motions of this if you want but it is all about winning. Players knew that we had to get our heads right. Everyone was disappointed with the way things worked out last year but the big thing was going to be how we reacted to it.

"There is no use relying on history or tradition and the rest. What happened in Tipperary is that we lost the winning habit - that feeling that you are unbreakable. Kilkenny have it.

"We did have that in 2001. You just have to go out with confidence. And it doesn't come automatically. It comes with tough training sessions and weekends away and hard games. We don't know if we have that yet. It has to be seen and it won't be until we are in Cork that we will know about it."

And that is the treacherous part. They have to walk into this blindfolded. Sheedy was part of Michael Doyle's backroom team when Tipperary narrowly lost a rip-roaring 10-goal league final thriller in Croke Park against Kilkenny. Two weeks later, they were dumped out of the Munster championship in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Doyle's season went into a tailspin.

Sheedy was mindful of the lesson even as he went about coaching the team to this year's league title. The difference was this time they had an adequate break and any fanciful notions have been thoroughly exorcised by the rhythms of training and persistent focus on Cork.

Sheedy believes the rewards are both pragmatic and authentic. He accepts the overall hurling structure needs to be developed but believes in the sanctity of the Munster competition.

"Well, it would be a sin to lose the Munster championship," he says. "It is hard to find the right balance. Some people say the open draw is the way to go. I don't know. This is a massive game but we have known it is coming for a number of months. What hurling needs in general is more teams challenging for the overall title.

"And I believe whoever wins in Cork will have a big say in Munster. Also, the winner gets straight into the All-Ireland semi-final and that is important because I think there could be a few big fallers this year with the new system."

Tipperary's experience in the qualifying lottery last year has convinced him that the traditional route is the best.

"Whoever lost the trilogy (between Limerick and Tipperary) had no real chance of coming back in the championship. Going from three games like those into the qualifiers and then playing seven weeks out of eight, you got no chance to work on anything.

"So coming in this year, there was no real baggage for the players to deal with. These guys are anxious to do well and to perform. The one good thing that came out of the trilogy for us is that it generated the money that allowed us to travel to Portugal."

What's done is done. Reports emerging from Cork have not been encouraging for Tipperary. True, Galway thieved three goals in a recent challenge victory in Páirc Uí Chaoimh but Cork also posted 5-27 as they obliterated Wexford in a challenge game. The inclusion of Cloyne's Paudie O'Sullivan on a team featuring two debutants and a fresh forward line has scotched any notion that Cork are stuck for new faces.

But Tipperary can only look to themselves, to a settled defence that has worked savagely hard, to the form of Shane McGrath in midfield and to the signs that Lar Corbett is leading the charge of forwards hoping to ease the burden on Eoin Kelly. And they look to the league. They qualify it but they cannot discount it either.

In all conversations, the day against Galway stands out, a salty March day in Salthill, when John O'Brien had been sent off and Tipp were hanging onto the match by their fingernails. Yes, it was only the league but it was precisely the kind of match that teams can find excuses for not winning, for allowing themselves to imperceptibly ease up. Tipperary did not. Hugh Maloney banged over a series of long-range frees that afternoon and Eoin Kelly pointed a long-range free that earned them a draw.

Conor O'Mahony knows the difference between failure and success in the championship can be paper-thin.

"It is only a small thing that is separating teams. Maybe we have taken defeat too easily over the past few years and we want to be winning now."