There's really only one place to start this week and that’s by chatting about the greatest to ever step behind a microphone.
When Micheál spoke the world listened. His voice, his artistry with words, his knowledge of the game, of the players involved, and the genius wit at the perfect time - it was just the perfect recipe for the greatest sports commentator ever.
I would not claim to have known Micheál personally but in recent years I have had the great privilege and honour of sitting in many of the same seats he once did with my work on the radio and often times, I would bump into him at these great occasions.
We would have brief but memorable chats. Memorable for me anyway! The last hurling game that he called on radio was the 2010 All Ireland final. A mighty day for us Tipp people.
Afterwards he came down to the dressing room, congratulated the group and said that was his last hurling game. But it's what he said next that stuck with us all - that the All Ireland he had just witnessed was the greatest game of hurling he had seen.
Maybe it was the emotion of the day, I thought later on. If he had a chance to think about it he would choose another game?
So when I met him at the All Ireland Final in 2022, I asked him two things: one, would he sign my programme as I had the honour of co-commentating on the All Ireland final that day. And two, did he really mean what he said that day to us in the dressing room back in 2010?
He replied that he did, citing the game, the occasion, and everything that was on the line that afternoon.
I nearly got emotional that I was so blessed to have been involved in a game that Micheál deemed the greatest he had seen. I won’t lie, like many I’m sure I shed a small tear yesterday when I heard the news of his passing.
We all felt he was like a friend, painting pictures of the games we love so much, joining us in our sitting rooms, cars or milking parlours to talk us through them.
Here's a quick story about the quality of the man away from the microphone, which concerns what was a very sad time in the GAA world.
The death of Tipperary hurler Dillon Quirke in 2022 hit hard for so many. The funeral was the biggest I had ever seen, which was expected. My brother Cormac and I made the journey to Clonoulty to the Quirke house.
When we arrived at the door of their beautiful home, a family member uttered the words, 'Oh my God, look who’s here!'
Now, I thought to myself 'Ah, it’s no big deal lads, sure I'm only up the road!' But who had arrived at the same time only the great man himself, Micheál.
A frail man at that stage of his life, he nonetheless made that journey from Kerry with his son because, as he said himself to the family members, ‘I just felt I had to be here.'
He wasn't doing that kind of thing for likes, thumbs up or clicks at that stage of his life. He did it because he was just a great man who loved the GAA.
The stories and anectodes over the coming days will be brilliant from those who knew him best and loved him most. A book in itself I’d say.
Micheál is gone now but his legacy will remain and, as someone said to me once - when a local legend died - you die twice in this world. The first is when the body gives up and the second is the last time someone mentions your name.
Micheál O’Muicheartaigh will be immortal in that regard.
Next week will be the time to delve into the final four in the race for Liam McCarthy.
But for this week my question is this: are the Rebels ready to give the greatest performance this group has given?
It'll require a better performance than Cork hurling has produced in 20 years to reach this year's All-Ireland final.
Have they the players to do it? Certainly. Have they the confidence to do it? Does Brian Cody wear a hat? Of course they do, they’re Cork after all.
So what could stop them? Apart from the greatest hurling team ever of course, I think you have to reckon with the Croke Park factor.
At present, Limerick have a major psychological edge over the rest when it comes to playing on Jones's Road.
Relating it to other sports, it’s like playing Man Utd at Old Trafford in the 2000’s, playing New Zealand in Eden Park or having to go to Lambeau Field to play the Green Bay Packers in their pomp.
The difference, of course, is that this is far from Limerick’s home venue but such is their dominance in HQ of late, it’s starting to feel like it is.
They love the place. This year, I was on commentary duty for their league game against Dublin and while many of their first team players were rested, the group as a whole just looked so comfortable, so at home in the stadium.
They know how to use every inch of it to maximise their performance. They have their routine and their timings down to a tee. From pre-game, bus to the stadium, where to go for food and a puck-around, how to kill time before throw-in with no game to watch beforehand.
Whatever it is, Limerick have it down to a fine art.
How do you match this? You don’t, to be honest. You just have to go there, take them on, hope your group have collectively their best performance ever and that they are below par.
If you're hoping to beat them at their best, it’s just hope. At their best they win, time after time.
Can it be done? Perhaps. But not this year.
Hang it on the dressing room wall if you wish, Pat Ryan and Cork people everywhere, but Cork’s best performance will not beat Limerick if the Munster champions hurl we know they can.
If Cork pull it off, it will be their greatest victory since the 2004 All-Ireland hurling final.
That’s a big statement perhaps, seeing as they won another All-Ireland in 2005 and have won plenty of huge games since then. But it underlines the importance of this game and not just in the context of the 2024 season. There will be history on the line.
But more on that next week.
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