THE TWO major hurling finals so far this year have been top quality. Waterford and Limerick's Institutes of Technology served up an epic in this season's Fitzgibbon decider. This game had everything that's great about hurling. There was passion, hard knocks, no-nonsense first-time hurling, fine scores, great individual performances, no cynicism and two periods of extra-time.

It was refreshing to see both teams pursuing victory with an honesty that is sometimes missing on major occasions across many sports. Referee Diarmuid Kirwan's performance was as laudable as the hurling.

The standard of preparation for this competition, though, is bordering on the professional. It's adding to the burnout statistics and needs monitoring, I feel. There have been weekend camps by many of the teams, with training regimes the SAS would find challenging.

Many (most) of the players playing this competition are also playing National League. If their clubs are involved in the later stages of the All-Ireland championships there's not much rest or recovery time. Then it's on to league knock-out time and the start of the championship build-up. Oh and there's supposed to be study as well. It means the majority of players at this level are playing and training for the full 12 months for at least four or five years. Managers will have to make every effort to ensure common sense prevails when it's their turn to get their "pound of flesh". A training and playing diary should be used by all these athletes.

The hurling league final lived up to the billing, even though there was only a week of an entree. Tipperary had a somewhat surprising semi-final victory over a Kilkenny side that is being built up for greatness (or a fall). So new manager Liam Sheedy's charges went into the final with a great deal of confidence. Galway, on the other hand, weren't quite sure whether they won or lost against Cork. They dominated the first half and had 14 points to spare at the break but they lost the second period by 10 points. So they were left with many unanswered questions. Were they as good as they played in the first half or as vulnerable as they performed in the second?

Like the Fitz final, this too was a contest to be savoured, with victory not being absolutely sure until Barry Kelly blew the final whistle.

Next up in most counties was county championship first-round time, as well as the build-up to the intercounty main competitions. This can be make or break time for some players. A few good performances with the club, after a poor league campaign, can put him back as a contender again. At this stage time is running out on the long-time injured. For others it's the end of their intercounty year as they fail to make the championship panel. But for all players this pre-championship time is one of hope. It's an exciting time to be a hurler. The slog of winter is over. The nights or mornings of going to the gym aren't too bad but the training in the cold dark, wet winter nights is a chore.

The smell of the cut grass is in the air again. Training begins and ends in daylight. For some counties there's even a trip abroad to warm places like Spain and Portugal for a training week (a far cry from Crusheen).

For the new young players it's even more exciting. To be sharing the dressingroom, as an equal, with many players who up to now were your heroes is exciting. I remember vividly being called into the Cork senior panel on the Saturday night before a Munster semi-final with Tipperary in 1976. I remember even more vividly feeling so proud, not so much of the fact I played in the second half of that victory, but that I walked the few hundred metres from the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick to the Greenhill's hotel in the company of three of my heroes - Ray Cummins, Mick Malone and Seánie O'Leary.

Because of the longer than usual time between league and championship this year, teams have been playing meaningful challenge games. It's always advantageous to get a game in the venue of your first-round game or at least to get a chance to train there. Sometimes this can be difficult to organise.

There was always great secrecy surrounding Ger Loughnane bringing his Clare team to train in Páirc Uí Chaoimh before their games with Tipperary in the late 1990s. I remember arriving to training on Sunday morning a few times back then to be told Clare had trained earlier. At the time I remember thinking this must be the way that real champions prepare. They were the standard-setters of the time and it was only a matter of time before others followed, and follow they did.

There is, nearly always, a challenge game which is part and parcel of the ceremony involved in the opening of a new GAA field.

There's always the worry for the management, though, that players will get injured in the club or challenge games. But the preparation goes on and until the referees blow the final whistle in Sunday's games, all the teams still have hope.

It's difficult to get excited about the Leinster championship first-rounds in Portlaoise on Sunday but then maybe that's because we're spoilt for competition in Munster.

With apologies to Westmeath and Wexford but will Dublin ever get a better chance of making it to the Leinster final, while Offaly will have to satisfy themselves with a win on Sunday and a good performance against Kilkenny. With new Taoiseach Brian Cowen offering the advice "Age Quod Agis" (do what you are doing) who knows what vote the Offaly boys might get this year.