You couldn't leave him out.
After his performance against Kilkenny, Shane Kingston just had to start in the final, as he couldn't have done more to prove his worth.
The Douglas star scored 0-7 from play when he came off the bench in the semi-final, and now he gets the nod ahead of Shane Barrett, who drops to the bench.
Let's forget the added incentive that his dad is the manager, and no one can accuse him of nepotism as he dropped his son for the semi-final.
However, you just can't ignore that impact when he came on, and the fact that he won Man of the Match, despite being a sub, was just remarkable.
Ger Mellerick has failed to recover from injury, meaning Eoin Cadogan comes into the half-back line.
Cadogan could potentially accomplish something special as he aims to complete a hurling-football double, having helped the Lee-siders to an All-Ireland football title in 2010.
Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O'Leary, Robert Downey, Sean O'Donoghue; Tim O'Mahony, Mark Coleman, Eoin Cadogan; Darragh Fitzgibbon, Luke Meade; Conor Cahalane, Seamus Harnedy, Robbie O'Flynn; Jack O'Connor, Patrick Horgan, Shane Kingston.
Subs: Ger Collins, Sean O'Leary Hayes, Colm Spillane, Damien Cahalane, Niall Cashman, Billy Hennessy, Alan Cadogan, Shane Barrett, Alan Connolly, Declan Dalton, Sean Twomey
