Kilkenny legend thinks team of noughties would beat current Limerick side

"I think we’d be able to mix it up as well."

Limerick are on the cusp of emulating the great Kilkenny side of the noughties and win four All-Irelands in a row, but which side was the better team? Kilkenny legend Eoin Larkin was a part of that great side, led by Brian Cody, who dominated a whole era of hurling, and even picked up the 2008 Player of the Year award. The Cats obviously have the opportunity to stop the Munster champions from stealing their record, by beating them tomorrow evening in the final. Speaking to the Irish mirror, Larkin reveals that if the two sides from the two different generations had of played each other, then his old crop would come out on top.

"I think we’d be able to mix it up as well. If we needed to go long, we’d be able to go long. If we needed to go short, we’d be able to go short. "If you’re going back maybe 15 years, the likes of Tommy [Walsh], the likes of JJ [Delaney], Derek Lyng, Mick Fennelly, like they all had legs so we’d have been able to play that game.

"I think us in our prime and them in their prime, like it’d be a great game but I’d like to think we’d come out on top. I think we’d have more household names, we’d have the better hurlers. "You’d like to think if we had JJ Delaney and Tommy Walsh on the wings, that they’d take care of Tom Morrissey and Gearoid Hegarty and in the full-back line you’d like to think that Jackie Tyrrell would do a job on maybe Gillane or Seamus Flanagan as well. And Noel Hickey then the same, maybe, take care of one.

"I’d like to think our forwards would definitely take on their backs. I’d imagine if Henry Shefflin was centre-forward, he’d take care of Declan Hannon. Or whoever is going to be there."

Of course this is all hypothetical and hearsay, but tomorrow is the real thing and this Kilkenny team will believe that they are the ones who can stop the Limerick juggernaut in its tracks. The Leinster champions have not lifted the Liam McCarthy in eight long years, and came within two points of achieving it last year, but it will take something special to stop John Kiely's team. Related links:

• Limerick captain Declan Hannon not named in All-Ireland final squad
• Henry Shefflin gave a painfully honest interview after Limerick beat Galway
• Conor Whelan explains what All-Ireland hurling final week was like for an inexperienced 18-year-old