The 2008 hurling season is poised on the brink of history with just one
question on the lips of the hurling public: who could beat Kilkenny? Were
Kilkenny to rack up a third successive title it would bridge a gap of 30 years since the feat was last achieved – and push the Cats to the top of hurling’s roll of honour for the first time with 31 titles, one more than great rivals Cork.
 
· Kilkenny have dominated the Leinster championship in recent years and although Offaly and Wexford will be keen to test them, the champions are un-backable. This Kilkenny team answers primarily to itself and is confident that if its own exacting standards are met, that will be enough.
 
· Munster is as open as ever. Can Waterford finally establish the consistency to reach their first All-Ireland final in 45 years? Can Tipperary, under new management and fuelled by a series of good under-age teams, add championship success to a national league? Or will it be the turn of Limerick after their memorable surge to last season’s All-Ireland decider? Or Cork, whose own attempt at three in a row was derailed by Kilkenny two years ago.
 
· Galway pushed the champions closest to the brink in 2007 and with the emergence of scoring sensation Joe Canning, the game’s hottest property, they believe in their prospects of success.
 
· There is good reason why three-in-row All-Ireland sequences are rare. No matter how gifted and committed a team, the level of concentration and hunger necessary are truly exceptional. Can Kilkenny tick all of those boxes for the first time since 1913? Let’s find out.

· Features highlights of all matches from the Provincial finals right through to the All-Ireland Final. Narrated by Evanne Ní Chuilinn.