Last year’s Munster championship was so exciting and unpredictable that it’s hard to complain too much but, again, the season’s calendar really undersells that excitement.
No matter how outstanding the match, the headlong rush from one week to the next leaves little time for the conversation and speculation that forms so much of the public enjoyment of such brilliant spectacles.
One example from last year was Cork v Clare in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. It swung one way and then another with huge jeopardy – it was expected, incorrectly, that the loser was out of the championship – but got buried in the torrent of fixtures.
Since the All-Ireland between the counties, this year’s league has seen them heading in different directions, emphasised by Cork’s absolute hammering of Clare in Cusack Park only a few weeks ago. For me, that was coming since the All-Ireland and Cork’s sense of grievance has added real needle to the fixture.
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It’s never been said publicly but there was a strong sense that their full-forward line didn’t get the breaks – or the frees – that they might have got. I don’t think that was the only reason.
[ Cork’s six-shooters leave Clare in the dust as they take revenge in EnnisOpens in new window ]
Their defence also had questions to answer for the Clare goals and hasn’t changed very much in the meantime. Cormac O’Brien has been an impressive addition and his untimely injury has brought Mark Coleman off the bench or at least taken the decision out of Pat Ryan’s hands.
Brian Hayes has become even more influential in their attack. I know he didn’t actually score a whole lot himself in the league final but at the same time he was central to a great deal. Remember, he was only coming back from a knee injury, so I’d expect he’d be a lot better physically two weeks later.
Séamus Harnedy also starts but Diarmuid Healy, Declan Dalton and Shane Kingston are on a strong bench.
I know it’s April 19th and nobody is getting carried away but Cork look better than last year.
Clare, though, have all the appearances of struggling to get the All-Ireland victory out of their system. Players have been injured and the shock of Shane O’Donnell being more or less ruled out for what looks like at best a significant period has removed the championship’s best hurler over the past couple of years.
In last July’s All-Ireland, by extra time a good few key players on either side had gone off and the subs became central. Clare pointed to their league run as critical in the introduction of new players, who had significant roles in the ultimate success.
Many of those lads have played this year in the league, but didn’t look anywhere near as comfortable on their own without the John Conlans, and McInerneys, the Shane O’Donnells and Tony Kellys. They just weren’t able to hold the rope on their own.
However, the one thing over the last few years about Clare is that they mirror the virtues of their manager Brian Lohan and have shown a lot of grit in adversity. They’ll need it this weekend.
In Thurles, Limerick arrive hoping to reassert themselves. In one way it’s the worst possible time for Tipperary to be playing them. The Munster champions have had four weeks to clear up injuries, which has been welcome for John Kiely. His biggest challenge this year may be to get his best team on the pitch.
We’ve seen them become during this league, and maybe in patches over the last year, a little bit more prone to injury, typical of a mid- to later-stage team.
They have had to cope with season-ending injuries in a few campaigns but not that many were affected. Most of them have been bombproof over the years.
Nickie Quaid’s remarkable return from a cruciate injury is an unexpected bonus given his influence but up to a third of the established team are considered not fit to start and named on the bench. They do, however, have up-and-coming reserves.
Adam English, Shane O’Brien, and Colin Coughlan are all selected but it was the lack of experience of some of those newcomers that ultimately cost Limerick the draw against Cork in last year’s semi-final.
Tipperary have to count the cost of a bruising league final against Cork but it is to Liam Cahill’s credit that he has produced a settled team. He brought in some experience for the league final, which demonstrated that while there has been significant expansion of youth in the panel, there’s only so much you can do.
There’s just not an infinite supply of new players.
Darragh McCarthy had a fine league and is also working away with the under-20s but in the final he was up against Seán O’Donoghue. The likes of him, Sam O’Farrell, Joe Caesar and Robert Doyle may be very promising players but, in terms of being physically conditioned for well-seasoned, hardened senior players they’ll meet against Cork and Limerick, they’re just not at that pitch yet. That’s the reality of it.
They will ultimately make it at senior level but it takes time – they’re still starting out.
On both sides of the puck-out, Tipperary really need a change of style from the league final and recent Limerick matches. You just can’t keep conceding them and expect to prosper. On their own puck-out, Tipp lost a huge number because they were forced to go long and their half-forward line simply wasn’t able to compete.
So, I think on both sides they have to be much braver: push up on the Limerick puck-out and try to stop them at source and go as hard as they can to compete on their own restarts.
At the end of the day, I expect Tipperary will be fighting it out with Clare for third place in Munster.
