Fifty years on from the famous 1973 All-Ireland final, the Limerick-Kilkenny rivalry comes full circle tomorrow.

Growing up in Limerick, those four digits - 1-9-7-3 - were burned in your mind from an early age.

If you had any interest in hurling at all, by the age of 10 you’d know the team lineout, who did this and who scored that.

Eamonn Grimes was the captain, big Joe McKenna a multiple All Star at the edge of the square, while the bigger again Pat Hartigan minded the square at the other end.

All of those men were heroes in Limerick, even more so once you got to meet them.

But because of 1974 and ‘80 and ‘94 and ‘96 and 2007, the 1973 team remained on a pedestal and the longer it went on, the harder it became to emulate them.

When Joe Canning stood over that late free in the 2018 All-Ireland final, my immediate thought was that this was 1994 happening all over again. Thankfully, it didn’t transpire like that; we got that elusive All-Ireland and have kicked on since.

And in this golden era for Limerick hurling, there is an inextricable link with Kilkenny.

They knocked us out in John Kiely’s first season in 2017. We turned the tables on them the following year with a monumental win in the quarter-final in Thurles, our first against them since 1973, and it set us on our way that year.

They took us down again in 2019 and then Limerick fell over the line against them in last year’s final.

Which sets up tomorrow’s final nicely. There has been nothing between the teams over the past few years and the results have gone either way so I don’t see how anybody could call the outcome with absolute certainty. It will be won and lost on fine margins.

There is one notable difference this time, however, in that Brian Cody will not be on the line.

Derek Lyng, who learned his trade from him, hasn’t taken refuge from getting the team back to the final, insisting that anything less than victory tomorrow will be failure.

I was talking to a friend of mine from Limerick recently and we both agreed that if we could choose a county other than Limerick to be from, it would be Kilkenny. Why? Because they are tough, they give it and take it, don’t complain and just get on with it.

You’re virtually guaranteed a certain level of performance from them on big days and that’s why they always have a chance against anybody.

The dynamic of the Limerick team was shifted by William O’Donoghue’s move to centre-back in the semi-final and while it worked, it’s still taking a colossal presence from the midfield.

Adrian Mullen is a top class player, but O’Donoghue playing deeper rather than chasing him around the middle of the field is a definite plus for Kilkenny.

O’Donoghue’s absence in midfield was felt in the first 25 minutes against Galway, but then the team adapted.

Kilkenny have named David Blanchfield but if he’s not fit to start, he’ll be a significant loss.

There may be a temptation on Lyng’s part to start Walter Walsh for his physicality, or will he take a chance on Kilkenny being right there with 15 minutes to go and spring him then? It’s a big call.

But when it comes down to it, I believe that Limerick have the greater expertise on the sideline and, ultimately, that’s where I feel the game will be won and lost.

While the League final earlier this year will have little relevance tomorrow, I did feel after that game that Limerick were a good bit ahead of Kilkenny tactically, particularly in the area of puckouts, which may well be the difference this time.

Because if there are around 40 shots per team, that makes for up to 80 puckouts. It’s such a massive part of the game and whoever comes out on top in that department has a much greater platform to launch attacks.

Limerick’s forwards will come way back the field for Eoin Murphy’s puckouts, goading him to go short because if he doesn’t, the Limerick half-forward line will hoover up the breaks.

When he goes short, as often happened in last year’s final, Limerick will be ravenous for turnovers.

Limerick have been refining their system under Paul Kinnerk for seven years now. Kilkenny are about seven months into it with Lyng. That will tell over the course of the afternoon.

The thing about match-ups is, there are no match-ups

The thing with match-ups for this final is that, from Limerick’s point of view, there are no match-ups as such.

The six Limerick backs will play in the positions in which they are selected and will mark whoever comes to them from the throw-in.

TJ Reid and Eoin Cody may be Kilkenny’s two most dangerous forwards but John Kiely won’t have detailed two of his defenders to pick them up. If they come into your area, then they’re your responsibility and that’s it.

At the other end, however, you can be certain that Huw Lawlor will pick up Aaron Gillane.

Imagine being in Lawlor’s shoes, knowing that you are going out to mark the frontrunner for Hurler of the Year.

He’ll have watched him in the last couple of games and knows that he can’t play him from the front because if a high ball goes in, he’s goosed. But play Gillane from behind and he’s impossible to mark once he receives those lovely diagonal balls into space.

If I was Lawlor, I’d be thinking that if I can hold him to two or three points, I’ll have done a pretty good job. But Lawlor’s a tough bit of stuff and will be relishing the challenge.

Another likely match-up is Mikey Butler following Peter Casey out the field. Butler showed against Clare that he is comfortable playing out there.

But, beyond that, are match-ups even a thing anymore? There are always a couple of obvious ones but, after that, it’s organised chaos around the middle of the field, with bodies everywhere.

You may see players picking each other up before a puckout is launched, but once it is they are scattered in different directions.

And arguably the most pivotal ‘match-up’ will be between two men who we can categorically state will not be marking each other - Eoin Murphy and Nickie Quaid.

Quaid came out on top in that duel in last year’s final but I have no doubt that Murphy could have executed the puckouts just as well if he was in the Limerick goal with the same options in front of him.

With a new regime in Kilkenny, let’s see if they’ve been able to close that gap.

History versus the process

While it’s all about going after the process these days and hitting certain numerical targets, you’d wonder if there might be something else driving Kilkenny tomorrow.

They were the last county to achieve the four-in-a-row but Limerick can emulate them tomorrow and set up the ultimate shot at history next year.

I wonder if this is something that the Kilkenny boys want to stop dead in its tracks, or does it even enter their minds?

They don’t like losing at anything and so having Limerick sit alongside their greatest team, with the opportunity to take their throne as the best ever in 2014, will surely resonate with them on some level.

I don’t think it’ll be mentioned within the four walls of the dressing room but, deep down, it’ll be there.

No need for John Keenan to be bogged down by assessors

It'll be some way for John Keenan to finish up tomorrow, with the All-Ireland final being his last game at inter-county level.

I know that he was very disappointed after he was overlooked for the rest of the season on the back of last year’s Munster final, when he won many admirers, just not among the referee assessors.

But, as he bows out, he doesn’t have to please anybody tomorrow and, for that, frees may be hard to come by.

As he can’t be told off by any assessor afterwards and there will be no implications for him going forward, I hope he refs it as he sees fit and, if that’s along similar lines to last year’s Munster final, then work away, John.

Rules are rules, of course, and are there to be implemented, but common sense has to be applied too and John has plenty of that.

He’s a very personable referee, which makes quite the difference. I hope that it goes well for him tomorrow.