Alas, this senior All-Ireland will be without Waterford this time, even though it will be 50 years to the day since the scheduled final where Ned Power et al overcame a Kilkenny side after a replay.

Smaller logos but bigger men?

This time, it’s Tipperary who will have their work cut out for them.

I’m sure they’re looking forward to it.  Compared to Waterford, Tipperary have a much more successful history of winning All-Irelands.  Not for them, the nagging doubt that no matter what we do, we just can’t win it.  No – Tipp, I think, are a team who will be well prepared.  Or at least I think so.

I would go so far as to stick the old neck out and predict a Tipperary win.  They’ll win because they’re brimming with confidence and because their speed and accuracy will trouble Kilkenny too much for them to able to cope.

This great Kilkenny team is, simply put, not the all-conquering impressive machine that it was last season.  It has weak links; links which were exposed with almost fatal consequences in their semi-final battle with Waterford.  Henry Shefflin’s excellent performance in that game kept the Deise just about at arms length, but Waterford are not as good as the Tipperary team just now and if it weren’t for a few costly slips in concentration, that game could very well have an extremely close contest.

Whatever the outcome, I would dearly love to see the day again when team shirts displayed something that players could feel proud of wearing – truly proud of wearing.  When you look back ten years even, the logos were placed there almost discreetly so as not to be too offensive.  Go back further to my father’s time and there is no  logo to be seen.  The only thing those men wore on their shirts was the Waterford crest.  I take my hat off to men who can take themselves seriously when they’re going around with huge letters written cartoon-fashion across their chest advertising some yoghurt drink.

Wouldn’t it be a lovely gesture from the GAA if they would just allow the teams on the final day to come, just for once, wearing their jerseys – just the jerseys and not the sandwich board.  I’m sure it could be negotiated.  Here’s to dreaming of a “no-logo” final.

“My Father: A Hurling Revolutionary, the life and times of Ned Power” is out on paperback at the end of November 2009.  Click here for further information, pre-order and excerpt.