A county by county guide to all the teams in this year's National Hurling League Division One B:
Clare
Manager: Mike MacNamara.
2007 NHL: Fourth, Division One A.
2007 SHC: All-Ireland quarter-finals.
Last NHL title: 1978.
2008: Under the stern tutelage of Mike Mac Clare are missing a few marquee names for the league, but, in a county which needs something radical in order to put the freshness back, that is no harm.
Of the players being drafted in from an expanded training panel, there is nobody who has been hailed as the messiah. Cathal Lafferty, as a former under-21 with a magnetic paw, wins his chance.
Tadhg Keogh's club service gets him a corner back berth. Clare need the league to produce a full back option and a starting forward outside the large muscular range they have favoured in recent years.
Galway
Manager: Ger Loughnane.
2007 NHL: Second, Division One B.
2007 SHC: All-Ireland Quarter-finals.
Last NHLtitle: 2004.
2008: It's a different country, Galway, and Ger Loughnane is still figuring how to get the best from both ends of the broom. Hasn't been afraid to perform radical surgery for the league and the team that starts against Clare and Mike Mac tomorrow is considerably different from that which finished up against Kilkenny last July.
None of the fresh faces are likely to arouse as much interest as will the decision Joe Canning is going to make when he finishes his club and college commitments.
Galway tapered off in last year's league. Could be the other way around this year. David Collins's absence for the spring will be a setback however.
Laois
Manager: Damian Fox.
2007 NHL: Second, Division Two A
2007 SHC: Leinster first round.
Last NHLtitle: Haven't previously won the league.
2008: Laois open business by taking a visit to Limerick tomorrow. Last time these two engaged each other was in a promotion/relegation decider last spring. Laois were condemned to the drop, but reprieved by the powers that be, but, meanwhile, suffered a miserable championship.
Swings? Football has claimed Mick McEvoy, Cahir Healy and John O'Loughlin.
Roundabouts? The form of LIT's Willie Hyland, the arrival into a Laois jersey of Camross' gifted Zane Keenan and the continuing excellence of James Young and Tommy Fitzgerald.
Laois hurling is a hardy flower.
Limerick
Manager: Richie Bennis.
2007 NHL: Fifth, Division One B.
2007 SHC: All-Ireland final.
Last NHL title: 1997.
2008: A key year for Limerick. Last year's heroics were both novel and surprising and the trick is to consolidate and to move on - something Limerick teams have often failed to do in the past. Alan O'Connor is back after a year out with injury and will be welcomed. Seán O'Connor should get the chance to prove himself at last.
Dual player Stephen Lavin makes a debut in the forwards while the prolonged absence through injury of Brian Geary sees Paudie O'Dwyer get a shot at the cockpit of the defence.
Offaly
Manager: Joe Dooley.
2007 NHL: Fifth, Division One A.
2007 SHC: Leinster Semi-finals.
Last NHL title: 1991.
2008: Joe Dooley might find it hard to keep a straight face as he urges his young team to go about the business of the league with diligence and care.
Offaly have never wintered well and their Walsh Cup final defeat to Antrim doesn't suggest things have changed.
Still, with Birr going well and young faces breaking through the only way is up. Francis Kerrigan, an All-Ireland winning minor with Galway three years ago, is an asset to the forwards, as is the emergence of two well -named young men - Shane Dooley and Daniel Currams.
Tipperary
Manager: Liam Sheedy.
2007 NHL: Third, Division One B.
2007 SHC: All-Ireland quarter-finals.
Last NHL title: 2001.
2008: After the turbulence and unhappy ending of last year, Tipperary settle down to a survey of what their enlightened under-age structures have been throwing up.
A bit early perhaps to be expecting silverware, but if the Mullinahone contingent are happy, and youngsters such as Pa Bourke and Thomas Stapleton continue to develop, Tipp show every sign of moving in the right direction.
Running in impressive scores for January.
