Anthony Daly AnalysisHow quickly the hurling landscape changes. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Cork are favourites for the All-Ireland now. They look like a team that have a sense of their own destiny.

Having weathered the potentially disastrous fall-out from the players' strike, they have re-emerged tighter than ever and are blazing through the championship with a very evident sense of cause. And while their emergence does not lessen Kilkenny's strengths, there is just something about a coming Cork team that spells danger for all other challengers. And funnily enough if they do meet Kilkenny down the line, the legacy of that 1999 All-Ireland final could be important.

Cork are excellent whenever they get a sniff of blood. Yesterday, they would have felt at half-time that they had the taking of Waterford. When they were all at sea in the first half, Waterford failed to hammer home the advantage.

They really ought to have been eight or nine points up at the turnaround. Because there was a period when Cork truly struggled. Even Setanta Ó hAilpín's goal came against the run of play. I thought the one player that kept Cork in the game during that lean passage of play was Niall McCarthy.

He ran at Fergal Hartley to win a vital free and persisted to cause trouble for the entire game.

It was crazy sending poor Diarmuid O'Sullivan out on John Mullane when he clearly wasn't right. Wayne Sherlock faced a tough job trying to stop Mullane and it took a while for the Cork defence to settle. In the last third of the match, however, they were dominant.

John Gardiner's early scores after half-time set Cork on their way. He got on top at midfield and Ronan Curran, probably the man of the match, hurled a great game with Tom Kenny. In contrast, some of Waterford's key figures failed to show up.

It was not Paul Flynn's day but in fairness to Paul, he did a lot to bring the team this far. Fergal Hartley struggled also, I thought. I felt sorry for Ken McGrath because he had the bottle to stand up when Waterford desperately needed leadership and was just unfortunate that the shots weren't going his way.

If he had managed to find shooting form, the result might have been different.

Mullane was electric and really kept Waterford in it. The goal from the short free was high risk because if they failed to take a score there, it would have been very demoralising.

I was just disappointed to see his gesture at the Cork fans after the third goal, it was unnecessary and blemished a great display.

Waterford can take solace of the fact that they were close, still challenging deep in injury-time but they still face a difficult task now. A loss like that can leave a team flat and fortune will play a role now. If they get Tipperary for instance in the qualifiers you would have to fear that their summer may end there. But I think Justin McCarthy is an ideal man to make sure they learn from this.

There could well be a sting in their tale. But the immediate aftermath of this game brought the sense that we were watching the Cork of old. The swagger has returned and I think we can safely assume they are back.

In an interview with Keith Duggan