Cork play Kerry in the defining moment of their season in this Sunday's All-Ireland final at Croke Park, an arena where Conor Counihan's men will be looking to make history by defeating their rivalled neighbours for the very first time. Paul McGrath was apart of the last Rebel team to lift Sam Maguire in 1990 and shared his views with Hogan Stand about this year's decider, while filling us in on his own experience as a player. This Sunday sees the football showpiece of the year go down at GAA headquarters when Munster bug guns Cork and Kerry clash for the second time in three years. Many claim that the pair have been the top pair teams in this year's championship, although Kerry's indifferent form in the qualifiers, not to mention a legion of support in Tyrone would argue different. There hasn't been much debate about Cork's progression to the final, however. The Rebels have lost one competitive game throughout the course of this season, coming in the National League away to Monaghan, whom they firmly ousted in the final weeks later to secure their status in Division One for 2010. The question is, though, will the Munster champions be entering the top tier next term as All-Ireland champions? Come the throw-in on Sunday, will Counihan's 'big men' stand and be counted for or will they crumble to Kerry again on All-Ireland final day? In his time as a player, Paul McGrath was no stranger to All-Ireland final day. Considering certain Kerry pundits' claims that their county are the team of this decade after reaching six back-to-back All-Ireland finals (winning three, with one result pending), McGrath must be in with a chance of 'Player of the Decade' in the 1980s. The Bishopstown man lined-out for Cork in the All-Ireland Under 21 championship final in 1985, and again in 1986 - winning both, before losing the '87 and '88 senior deciders to Meath and eventually earning back-to-back triumphs in '89 and 1990 against Mayo and Meath, respectively. To his credit, McGrath is quick to point out that he wasn't on the field in '87 decider, as a broken jaw prevented him from doing the Royals damage in the corner, but he was still apart of the panel that had trained hard all year only to suffer a crushing defeat at the last hurdle. However, the count still makes for six. During his time as a Cork player, McGrath was involved in six All-Ireland finals on the trot for his county from 1985 to 1990, picking up two All Stars in the right corner-forward position during the back-to-back years. McGrath looks back to those previous two defeats to Meath as tough ones to take, but crucial motives for the team to come back the following year stronger and more hungry to end the 14-year wait for an All-Ireland senior success for their county. "I don't know (what happened)," he said, looking back it now. "We were so used to winning by big scores, maybe things were getting too easy. But it was a severe jolt to us. A lot of soul searching went on after those defeats." Cork went on to win two All-Ireland titles subsequently, but the ensuing argument afterwards was that they had undersold their potential by having to wait another three years again after 1990 to get back to a final, which they lost out to Eamonn Coleman's Derry. Rebel fans will be hoping to avoid a similar argument in years to come, after their Under 21s again achieved the ultimate glory earlier on this year in dramatic circumstances with a late goal against Down. "Just because you have good success at underage level, doesn't mean it's going to come automatically for you as a senior player," warned McGrath. "Yes, we won two All-Irelands, but we also lost two and they took a long time for us to get over, and the only way we were going to make it right was to go back and win one and it took a lot of effort." The Cork team which made their way into the 1987 All-Ireland SFC final did so by means of cruising through Munster and mauling Connacht champions Galway in the semi-final replay 0-18 to 0-4. The side managed by Billy Morgan had seven former Under 21 stars for that year's decider and they would be on the receiving end of a six-point defeat by Meath come the big day in September. A jaw-broken McGrath, watching from the bench said: "I remember Jimmy Kerrigan bearing down on the Hill 16 goal when we were four points up. He was clean through and Mick Lyons blocked him down at the last second. We could have been seven points up but instead Meath went on to score 1-2 in the next five minutes." Through sheer spirit and belief, Cork found themselves back in the final again the following year with a chance to claim revenge against, now rivals, Meath. McGrath lined-out in the half-forward line and did his best but a harsh free awarded in the dying stages of the game allowed Meath to force a replay, much to the devastation of Cork. "I found it quite difficult to build myself up again for the replay," recalled McGrath. "You see, there's a great excitement in the summer and in the build-up to the final. You've trained your guts out for ten months. So that's one of the good things about being in an All-Ireland final - you know it's the end of the road, and that you can relax and not have to worry about training afterwards. But when the result is inconclusive, you know you've got another three weeks of hard grind and, mentally, that's not easy to accept. You start to feel tired." Sure enough, Meath were victorious in the replay. "To lose two years in-a-row was galling," he admitted. "The most galling thing about it was that we threw the first match away. We missed an awful lot of chances." The next two years would prove profitable for McCarthy and Cork. In a season he described as "nervous", 1989 saw the Sam Maguire come back to the Leeside after 14-years away, when the Rebels claimed Munster, ousted Dublin in the semi-final and defeated Mayo in the final by 0-17 to 1-11 to claim the title. 1990 would truly come to be Cork's year as McGrath and co finally gained their revenge on Meath, by outscoring them by two points on All-Ireland final day to cap off an unprecedented hurling and football senior championship double that September. Nineteen years have come to pass since then, but McGrath believes this is Cork's year to end the drought that has left them desert dry of All-Ireland senior football silverware. "They're more than equipped this year to do it," he said "Conor Counihan has brought a real calmness to that team and he has made them very strong defensively. The big men up the middle have also been a key factor for them this year in how far they've come." True, the likes of John Miskella and Anthony Lynch have truly came into their own this season, which was evident when Cork disposed of Kerry in the Munster final replay back in June to claim their 34th provincial crown, but what of the mediocre performance against Limerick in the final? Could that happen again in another decider against Munster opposition? "I think, in hindsight, the Limerick game was a good thing," said McGrath. "It was the wake-up call they needed. You saw they way they played against Donegal and then against Tyrone in the semi-final, this is a team on a mission." As for the opposition in the final, both sides will be familiar with one another (and if they aren't, you'd imagine they will be in the first five minutes). McGrath himself played along side some renowned Kerry men when he won a Sigerson Cup with UCC in 1988. One being a certain Maurice Fitzgerald, whom he unquestionably describes as "the best" player he's ever played along side. Even McGrath himself will admit that when it comes to forwards, Kerry have held the edge down the years, but this time he feels Cork have the edge over their old rivals in that department. "Initially, I was surprised not to see James Masters in there at the start of the championship but you see how the other forwards are performing and you understand why. The likes of Donnacha O'Connor and Daniel Goulding have been very impressive this year, while the half-forward line has been a focal point too," he stated. Tweet

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