i think with hurling a lot depends on how the team turns up on a given day. hurling unlike football or gaelic is intense and teams cant sit back with numbers behind the ball and try and hit on the counter like soccer or gaelic.
like vince lombardi said one has to have heart as much as head and that is the case for hurling. you have to go for the full 70. if this were soccer lets say, a team may get a two goal cushion and just sit back. this is generally what chelsea would do against a good team.
id be tipping kilkenny and tipp based on what i have seen and last year. but you never know, davy could psyche clare up again to huge levels and deliver. i think galway when they meet kilkenny will lose. if not they will win and then lose the semi final. the problem i see with galway is that they can never maintain their levels. cunningham to be a success will have to get inside the minds of the players and motivate them.
having said that it is very hard for teams to consistently motivate themselves for games.
"The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation" - Henry David Thoreau.