Guinness launched the 1999 hurling championships at Croke Park yesterday. It is the fifth year of the company's sponsorship and was marked by a low-key occasion, attended by 11 inter-county players who were present for promotional purposes and a phalanx of media representatives.

Of the players, one has been notably busier than the others. Brendan Cummins kept goal for Tipperary last Sunday as they won the National League against Galway. Tomorrow evening, six days later, he takes the field at Thurles for the county's first championship engagement.

In keeping with the fashion of the age, Tipperary have spent the last week talking down their latest national title and contrasting its significance unfavourably with tomorrow's match.

"Winning the league is grand for building confidence," says Cummins, "but you're judged on how you go in the championship. We play Kerry on Saturday night and we're expected to win but we still have to go out and do it. Kerry gave Waterford a good game last year and while we certainly don't want to lose, we don't want to win playing badly either."

How best to approach the opening championship match is a tricky question. Kerry, although a Division One county, are not realistic contenders. Only one championship win in nearly 80 years and a whitewashed NHL campaign, redeemed by the relegation play-off victory over Down, illustrate the county's standing.

It's a match Tipperary can't lose but when it's over they will be two weeks away from the most anticipated match of the early summer, the clash with Munster champions Clare who beat them twice two years ago, in both the Munster and All-Ireland finals.

"The Munster championship is more important than the league final. Kerry have to be beaten before you play Clare and for the players that's important because play badly against Kerry and you lose your place for Clare.

"It's a completely different team to '97 which is a sign of how strong Clare are. We have to change around completely to come back and play them. Every Tipp supporter thinks we can win an All-Ireland every year but that's not how it works. We're rebuilding. For us winning the league was a bonus and beating Clare would be a big bonus."

For Cummins, the year has progressed a lot better than it started. A burst blood vessel in the thigh kept him out of action for six weeks, threatened to undermine his hurling season and ruled him out of football for a year.

"I didn't join the league panel until the Waterford game. I didn't know originally whether I would get back at all and said to Nicky, `I mightn't make the championship'. So I needed the league games for my own confidence. I'm a Tipp player for six years now but it was my first league win on the field. I didn't play in '94 although I got a medal. It's not the same when you're not on the team.

Although he believes he has made a "total recovery", Cummins played the initial matches of his comeback wearing tracksuit bottoms and will only cast off that additional protection for the championship. Even then, cycling shorts will be needed to protect the 12-inch scar on his leg.

The wound has forced him to abandon football for this season. His absence is a severe loss for Tipperary as he was a notably high-scoring forward in a unit including the county's first football All Star Declan Browne.

"I can kick a football and run but it's the physical challenges that would be the problem. Taking a belt from a hurl is one thing because the wood will give but getting a shoulder from some fella would be different. I'd be afraid of it until next year."

He will miss the football this weekend. On Sunday Tipperary travel to Tralee to take on Munster champions Kerry in a match that will be widely expected to bring their summer to a swift conclusion although they gave their opponents a good match in last year's provincial final.

Cummins remains optimistic - "Kerry are no world beaters and seem a little more there for the taking this time - about his team-mates' chances. "I called up to see them and wish them the best on Tuesday night," says Cummins. "I said to Colm Browne (manager) that I was starting to get the itch. I enjoyed playing football. I like the physical side of it.

"People say that there's no pressure playing for a county like Tipperary. There is. I don't know what it was like to have played back in the 1970s or whenever but I've played in two Munster football finals and won an All-Ireland B medal. Football has been more high-profile during my career."

Being a dual player in Tipperary hasn't always been a happy experience. A dim view is taken of native footballers who make the hurling team and endanger its prospects by getting injured playing football.

"It hasn't been too bad for me. I've been lucky with managers. No hurling manager has said to me to give up football and football managers have been sympathetic as well. It only takes a small accident with the ball to break a finger and I'd be out for a month."

This year his priorities are exclusively arranged and realistically focus on Sunday fortnight.

"There's so much at stake. You're training six or seven months and the whole season hinges on 70 minutes. Win on June 6th and we're there until August at least."