Kilkenny may no have lived up to their full potential during the league campaign, with most captivated by the Clare/Waterford trilogy.
However, this anomaly was rectified when Kilkenny made light work of Dublin in the Leinster SHC semi-final and now face old foes Galway in the final this weekend.
On tonight's Off The Ball, JJ Delaney and Ollie Canning looked ahead to the clash and cited the strength in depth of Brian Cody's side as one of the reasons they have the edge this weekend.
"I think it's the competitiveness in the Kilkenny panel over the last five, eight or even ten years," Canning explained.
"They could bring on Jonjo Farrell the last day and he scored 1-5. He's not young or breaking through and he's been conditioned to come into that group as a seasoned veteran.
"For Kilkenny to bring him in and score 1-5, that's a testament to the work that they've been doing in the background."
JJ Delaney continued on that point: "A lot of teams against Kilkenny put a lot of effort into the first half, but Kilkenny are rarely not two points up or two points down. They're never seven or eight points down at half-time.
"Psychologically going in against Kilkenny and looking up at the scoreboard, they could be two points up. That must be heartbreaking for the opposition because they are after throwing the kitchen sink at them, but they're still up.
"Then, Kilkenny come out and knock off tow or three points in a row and when the opposition looks at the scoreboard they're five or six points down. Psychologically that can be very tough for an opposition player."
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