By Rory Gallagher

I HAVE to say I'm really looking forward to this weekend's match between Cork and Tyrone, maybe more than any other match so far this year. It will be just so interesting to see how Mickey Harte chooses to play it, what approach he takes to the game.

There's one thing for sure and that's that you can never second-guess Harte, he always seems to come up with something. Just like the two McMahons in the full-back line for the final against Kerry last year, or Sean Cavanagh going to full-forward.

I fully expect Enda McGinley to start. What you could see is Joe McMahon this time being used as an out-and-out midfielder and McGinley going wing-forward. From there, he can go for kickouts away from the mass of bodies in the middle.

I've had a few hamstring injuries in the past, and it's not the sort of injury you can protect. If it feels right, you just have to go for it, and you'll soon find out if it's not. The good thing about a hamstring pull is that you're generally able to do some sort of conditioned training, whether it's on a bike or in the pool or something like that. So his fitness should be good for anything up to 50 or 55 minutes or so. He's such a key player that if he's fit, he has to play.

I'd put Sean Cavanagh on Graham Canty. Canty doesn't like having to mark people. Frequently when Cork have played Kerry they haven't played Canty on Declan O'Sullivan, they've shifted Canty to the wing and put somebody like Miskella at centre-back.

I think in a lot of ways Cork have copied Tyrone's style of play, so much more than they did for example under Billy Morgan two years ago, and I think Conor Counihan learned again from last year. He's gone for more footballers in his team, not just big men but also footballers.

They were seriously lacking in the half-forward line. Miskella, a wing-back, was up there, Sean O'Brien from Nemo was up there, Nicholas Murphy at times was in there. Now, like Harte, he's going for boys in their best positions, their natural positions. Not only that, but he's got fewer Nemo Rangers players on his team. Under Morgan there would frequently have been four, five or six Nemo players in the side. They're playing more of a possession type game, based on slow, methodical build-up rather than just kicking it forward. He's also encouraging his full-back line to come out beyond the defence and help to move the ball on.

The one thing that Cork, like Tyrone, love is for their defenders and midfielders to run into space. Although they lost, the reason why Limerick were successful against Cork was because when they lost possession they raced back and crowded out the space in their own half, and I'd expect to see the half-forwards and midfielders retreating en masse. They'll allow Cork to come onto them up to a point, because Cork have got a lot of scores from their half-back line and I can't see Tyrone letting that happen.

Cork's inside forward line have been doing well so far, but they've been doing well given plenty of time and space. Tyrone won't give them that space, they'll try to smother them. I can see Conor Gormley playing at full-back, with Justin McMahon going out to centre-half on Pearse O'Neill and Ryan McMenamin in the corner on Daniel Goulding.

I think Tyrone will go with the same as before up front, with O'Neill and Mulligan leading the line. I think too much has been made of how well Michael Murphy did against Cork, he did it when the game was over and Cork had switched off. Michael Shields is one of the best full-backs in the country at the minute, he never gave Tommy Walsh a kick of it, so I don't think Tyrone should be putting a big man in there just for the sake of it.

Cavanagh may spend some time in there alright, but even when he is in there Tyrone don't tend to send high ball in at him. It's not their style. Instead I think you'll see them trying to make space for Mulligan and O'Neill, and we all know what they can do.

I think Tyrone were a wee bit shocked by Kildare's ferocity early on, but they'll be guarded and ready for that this time. Cork are a better team than Kildare, and if Tyrone let Cork away the way they did to Kildare then I don't think Cork would let them back into it.

The one worry I'd have for Tyrone is on the kickouts. They'll try to keep them away from the field, and they have to position them away from certain Cork players in the middle. Tyrone do tend to hit short kickouts in Croke Park where they have the space, but that's why I think McGinley at wing-forward could work out very well for Tyrone.

Kerry suited Cork, because they went with an 'I'm a better fielder than you' attitude, whereas Tyrone will go out and break it 100 per cent of the time if they have to. They won't let Cork dominate the middle.

I'm still not convinced about Cork. They've played well in spells, but their forwards need a lot of chances to put teams away. They haven't come up against anything like the pressure they'll be up against on Sunday from Tyrone, and how they'll react to that I'm really not sure.

Cork haven't been in Croke Park as often as Tyrone, although I was reading that this is Anthony Lynch's seventh All-Ireland semi-final. The big difference is that Tyrone are much more used to winning at Croke Park than Cork are, and I'd still say that if it comes down to it they're more capable of grinding it out for a win than Cork would be. That's why I'd expect Tyrone to win by two or three.