Emmet Moloney writes for the 'The Irish Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.

It’s here. At last. The final we’ve all been waiting for and the final we all expected. Emmet Moloney can’t wait for Sunday to come...

Once the long whistle was blown on 5 September 2010, I reckon everyone in the ground that day and watching and listening around the world would have happily taken these two sides going at it again 12 months later. Of course us neutrals would all love to see our own counties up there challenging for Liam McCarthy but if we’re not up to it yet, no real hurling follower will begrudge these two fighting it out because they are the two best hurling teams in the land – and by a distance.

While the balance of hurling power has been swayed totally in Kilkenny and Tipp’s favour over recent years, they have given some entertainment for that. The past two finals have been as good as we’ve seen and this third instalment, the rubber match, has so much to it you’d wonder where to begin.

The case for both is easy to make. Tipp are defending champions, figured out Kilkenny in last year’s final, looked imperious since then but fell over the line – as all teams like to do – in their semi-final. No team scores goals as fluidly as this team. No team carries an attacking threat like this team. No team moves better than this team. No team could have stopped Kilkenny’s five-in-a-row bid but this team. They are the best team to emerge from Tipperary since the ’60s and victory on Sunday would add the elusive consecutive title – something they haven’t managed since 1965.

In the opposite corner are the Cats, a team of winners. They’ve strolled back to the final and looked very Kilkenny like in doing so. They have King Henry back at full pelt and have added one or two useful strings to the bow as well. They probably allowed the five-in-a-row hype last year to sidetrack them just that little bit, but there’s been none of that messing this year. It’s all business and they have an air about them that suggests they’re close to the peaks of 2007/2008.

There is no need to talk about motivation for any championship hurling match. It’s a given that all teams have enough of it and any player who needs extra motivation in an All-Ireland final doesn’t belong there. What you can talk about are attributes like resolve. I think this has a role to play on Sunday.

When the dust settled after last year’s epic final, Tipperary were rightly lauded as the new kids on the block and as conquerors of the acknowledged greatest team of all time. Being the proud hurling county that they are, this rankled silently with Kilkenny. After all, they were shorn of the greatest forward playing the game and their preparations were a little sidetracked by the circus that surrounded the injury to Henry and the five-in-a-row. These past few weeks the open door policy in Nowlan Park has been restricted, demonstrating just how highly they rate this Tipperary side and how badly they want to beat them.

If we’re looking for parallels then look no further than Tipp 12 months before that. They felt a little hard done by with the late penalty decision that swung the 2009 game. That’s why Cork ambushed Tipperary the following May; their eyes were on the Cats and revenge. It took a roundabout route but they arrived in Croke Park as ready as they could be a year later. We all know what happened next.

This resolve isn’t something that kicks in on the morning of an All-Ireland final. That’s what drives you during the winter, in the gym, on nights when your mates are out in the pub and you’re at home eating pasta, drinking Lucozade Sport and watching Laochra Gael – or watching the crowd that beat you getting their All-Stars, going on their annual foreign trip or simply being described as All-Ireland champions, defending champions, holders etc, all year long. If you are a competitive Cat, one who has won multiple All-Irelands, this can’t sit well with you. Sunday is the day to do something about it. And they will.

I think Kilkenny will win.

We’re into hunches here but I’ve fancied them since last year, for the very same reason I fancied Tipperary from the year before. Sunday’s game is a one off but unusually it can be viewed as the third of the trilogy. The first occasion was a close game that Kilkenny won with experience and a clinical finish. Tipp will think they threw it away, missing three eminent goal chances but the Cats know they got two and stuck them. That’s what champions do. The second episode was a day when Tipp played as well as they can and the green flags were grabbed with both of Lar Corbett’s hands. They were devastating and Kilkenny weren’t too bad either.

But – and there is a but – in their own minds, the Cats have excuses for last September. Whether they would have lost with Henry or not (I think they would) is entirely subjective. Could they have done without the alleged 100,000 attendances at training? Of course they could.

They’re a dangerous animal at the best of times, Kilkenny. Their backs are as physically strong if not stronger than the Dublin backs that so manhandled Tipp three weeks ago. They’re wiser. That’s where this game gets decided. Both teams will score about 22 points on a normal day so the Kilkenny backs need to have an exceptional day. I think they’re primed.

Last year on these pages we called Tipp and we called Lar Corbett as the danger man and potential man of the match. We’ll hardly get it that right two years in a row. This year the vote goes to Kilkenny and the greatest hurler playing the game these past few years, Tommy Welsh, getting the piece of crystal.

Walsh will be well suited to the modern day tactic of finding a different forward on him every couple of minutes because he can hurl them all. Callinan, McGrath, Kelly, Maher – they’ll all come into his vicinity and I’ve a feeling all will be dispatched with style and gusto. Cometh the 70 minutes, cometh men like Walsh.

The very quiet talk in Premier land is that the full-back line of the Cats is weak-ish, with Noel Hickey being identified as vulnerable. On days like Sunday, the greats stand up. Hickey is one of those. So too is JJ. so too is Tommy. Rice and Fennelly are on the way to All-Stars and recognition. Henry will keep the forwards honest, Fennelly could yet play a part and as usual an unlikely hero or two will emerge.

This could be Brian Cody’s crowning glory, bringing back the Cup 12 months after it looked all over for this team. He’s done a little re-inventing and consigned the likes of Eddie Brennan to squad member status. The ruthlessness that might have been missing last year is back. This is the game Cody has been waiting for, his team and supporters have been waiting for. This is it for all of them. Throw it in, ref, leave them at it and let us all enjoy the game as it should be played, because no-one plays it better than these two.

I can’t wait. The Cats to win. Cody to retire on the strength of it.

PS: The minors of Dublin (5/6) and the seniors of Kilkenny (13/8) pays a tidy return on the double for those of a betting ilk. To catch Emmet's latest column