The last time Kilkenny and Tipperary went head-to-head in the Championship was a little off kilter so to speak.
It was the grand old summer days of 2013 and both sides found themselves fighting for the lives at a point in the season that they are not usually accustomed to: the qualifiers.
Defeats in their respective provincial Championships last year had meant that they were on collision course before the All Ireland series had even begun, setting the scene for a clash of hurling titans which the Cats escaped from in a 0-20 to 1-14 scoreline.
In some way normal service resumes this Sunday as both sides come within one step of the Liam McCarthy Cup at Croke Park yet again.
Damian Lawlor previews this year's final with Oisin Langan on the Monday Rewind
Jackie Cahill joined Nathan and Dave to look ahead to the final on Off The Ball's Friday GAA podcast
The first final
When the Premier and the Cats went head-to-head at Jones's Road on March 15th 1896 (part of the 1895 Championship), you'd wonder if both sets of players realised that this match-up would become an All Ireland final fixture 17 times over the next 120 years or so.
Almost a decade after their first Championship meeting, that first final saw Tipperary penetrate the sanctity of the Kilkenny goalline six times in a 6-8 to 1-10 victory in front of 8,000 souls.
Paddy Riordan is said to have had the distinction of scoring all 6-8 of Tipp's points. It would be an understatement to say that was a sensational feat in any era.
That final came at a time when dedicated inter-county teams were not commonplace, thus the Tipp side were represented by Tubberadora players, while Tullaroan lined out for Kilkenny.
Tipp's love affair with the trophy would not dissipate straight away as they returned the following year to see of Dublin.
The unexpected re-fixture
Kilkenny were not even supposed to face Tipp in the final of the 1911 Championship. Their opponents were meant to be Limerick but the Treaty refused to play in Thurles. Tipp were drafted in to replace them and in the final played in Dungarvan in July 1912, the Cats came out on top to take the trophy by a 3-3 to 1-1 scoreline.
Tipperary's Bobby Ryan and DJ Carey of Kilkenny during the 1991 final. It was the first final between the two teams since 1971 and the last before '09. Tipp won by four points ©INPHO/James Meehan
The first 15-a-side final
The first 15-a-side All Ireland hurling final came in 1913 and saw Kilkenny get their paws on the trophy once again by a 2-4 to 1-2 score with club side Mooncoin representing the Cats. Part of a three-in-a-row for Kilkenny, it came during one of their eras of dominance.
Tipperary's Lar Corbett celebrates winning the All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final in 2010 ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
The three-in-a-row
The two sides would meet intermittently in finals over the next century with Tipperary coming out on top in seven of the next nine deciders. But the most sustained period of finals between the pair came in 2009, 2010 and 2011 with Tipp's last All Ireland squeezed between two Kilkenny triumphs. That 2010 win for Tipp was the biggest winning margin between the two sides during that trio of finals with a Lar Corbett hat-trick of goals paving the way for a 4-17 to 1-18 victory and stopped Kilkenny's 'drive for five'.
All three matches saw over 80,000 fans pack into Croke Park.
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