Moving Day in the hurling world.
In life you can have excuses or success, but you can never have both.
To start I want to look back before we look forward.
Last Saturday night in Pairc Ui Chaoimh was one of the best sporting occasions I have attended.
I was lucky enough to see Manchester United play Real Madrid in a Champions League game in 2003 where Ronaldo (Brazilian one) scored a hat trick, David Beckham came off the bench and played his last European game for United and the score was 4-3 and even that wouldn't hold a candle to what I was privileged enough to witness from a bunch of so called amateurs.
The atmosphere, the game, the ending, the aftermath on the pitch, it just had it all and more and all assisted brilliantly by a top-class refereeing performance from Sean Stack, who stayed calm whilst all around were losing their heads.
Now we move on. What’s on the line for Cork remains the same – a must-win game or else they are done. Same applies to Tipp. We have knockout hurling in Thurles and Ennis in May, a throwback to the nineties.
After these games are done in Munster and Leinster two things will happen. One group will start planning what they are going to do before the club championship starts: USA, Southeast Asia or Ballybunion maybe and the other group will believe that they have arrived and that their summer is only getting going now and the buzz in training will be savage.
Who that will be is, as always, very tough to call in both provinces.
We’ll start off in Ennis where Clare welcome Waterford. I think the Davy Factor has become less and less over the past few years and the focus genuinely for Clare will be just beating Waterford.
Cusack Park is "home" in name for Clare but not in terms of taking advantage of it. The same and more can apply to Thurles for Tipp - which we’ll get onto - but I question are home grounds really home grounds in terms of making it as horrible as possible for the away team?
Look at the soccer world where the away dressing rooms will be smaller, more cramped, maybe the hot water got switched off by accident and surrounding you on the walls or the walk out are pictures of the home team winning.
The closest I have seen to this in terms of an inter-county ground is where the tunnel coming out of the home dressing room in the Gaelic Grounds is plastered with the success of Limerick teams past and present.
I feel this is a trick that most teams are missing in terms of making home really feel home for one team and a nightmare for the others.
Anyway on the field Clare did not take advantage of Ennis from minute 53 onwards against Limerick and they leaked five goals there last year against Tipp before going on to beat Cork by a point, so they will be looking for the most complete performance from themselves at home that they have seen since, funnily enough, they demolished their opponents this weekend there this time two years ago.
Clare are well rested with a three-week break so no doubt they will be champing at the bit and the internal games have been hectic, allowing some key players to get a chance to recover from injury, so we should see Clare as fresh and as strong as they have been this year on Sunday.
Now they need to back that up with a performance and I think they will.
They are the real challengers to Limerick still in terms of hurling and physical ability, with a strength in depth to match. Now with the injuries Limerick are having they are possibly an even stronger panel as a whole. So now is their time – they can have excuses or success but they cannot have both and the excuses list is very short for Clare now, it’s time to deliver.
In terms of Waterford they have had their most successful Munster round robin campaign ever, they have tasted success and they like it but, on the road, can they back that up against the two best teams in hurling right now?
I feel the loss of Conor Prunty will be massive as he has been brilliant for them at full-back and his loss was seriously felt against Tipp when Mark Kehoe roared into the game after Prunty departed.
Shane O’Donnell is key to everything good about Clare right now, he is in All-Star form once again and if the ball going in isn’t perfect it does not matter to this guy. His vision, his stick work, his strength make him a nightmare for any full-back line right now and this will be a big task for Mark Fitzgerald to try and tie him down. If O’Donnell fires, Clare win.
Dessie Hutchinson has been in serious form too and will have Adam Hogan most likely for company from minute one – not a simple task for anyone , judging by Hogan’s form this year. The winners of these two battle will dictate where the two points are going on Sunday. So for me it’s Clare to get the job done in Ennis and make Waterford’s trip to Limerick next week a really tasty affair.
Now to Thurles. The "home" ground of Tipp but in reality this has not been the case at all in terms of taking advantage of this in recent years. Some teams like playing in Thurles even more then we do.
In the past two years Tipp have played there four times in championship and have not won once: three losses and one draw.
Cork love playing in Thurles and their fans love coming there to support their team.
Tomorrow is a sellout and I have no doubt it will three or four to one in terms of Rebel supporters to Tipp fans. So Cork will win that battle in the stands and terraces but who will be triumphant on the pitch where it matters most?
Cork hammered the hammer against Limerick and went after their big guns and had most joy in the way they went after Diarmaid Byrnes.
They will do the same with Tipp and perhaps target Conor Bowe and maybe tell Shane Barrett run at Bryan O’Mara at every opportunity.
Inside then we all know how dangerous Brian Hayes, Alan Connolly and Hoggie can be so it will be a busy day for Cathal Barrett, who I’d imagine will pick up Hoggie and he will only relish that role of marking the Cork great wherever he goes.
So it’s a case then can Hayes and Connolly win the other two battles? Connolly is just waiting to explode in this championship, his returns from the three games have been brilliant considering how little ball he gets on for large periods of the game but when he does he makes it count so for me if Connolly hits form then Cork will win.
Further out the field Darragh Fitzgibbon is playing the best we have seen from the Charleville man in a few years. Five points from play the last day and his movement was top class.
Alan Tynan and him will have a serious battle and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this battle get physical early doors just to send out a message. Tipp won’t be backing down an inch. Watch that throw-in.
It’s hard to know if the Tipp forward unit will line out as selected, with Jason Forde struggling to find form at present but if he starts at 11 and gets that chance, the character of the guy means he will want to redeem himself and prove that he is a top class player.
Inside him Mark Kehoe will want to build on his brilliant performance against Waterford and if last weekend is anything to go by, he’ll be hoping Eoin Downey gets a yellow card as early as possible, goes off and allows him to hit 3-03, like Seamie Flanagan did.
Lots to ponder but the worry as a Tipp supporter is the pace and power Cork possess when they have that ball going forward.
If they run at us like they did against Limerick and try not to concede more than 30 points again it’s hard to see them not winning but if Tipp can hop off them physically and go toe to toe for 60 mins then it will be Tipp’s day coming down the home straight.
Whatever is in the Tipp dressing room in terms of passion and desire to win it just has to come out on to the pitch.
My heart says Tipp and I’ll just leave it at that.
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Highlights of Dublin's defeat of Antrim
Across the way in Leinster and it’s very interesting to say the least. The Dublin camp must have been in the best form it has been since Micheál O’Donoghue took over last year and training must be buzzing right now.
Top of the league, five points in the bag but the real tests of this group are coming now in the next two weeks. It is after these that we will really know where this Dublin team are at. Starting with Kilkenny coming to town Saturday night.
The last five times these teams have met in championship the winner has always been in black and amber. Last time they met in Parnell Park in championship was 2022, where Kilkenny won by 17 points.
The hope for Dublin is Kilkenny are not firing and they really are missing the scoring powers of Mullen and Eoin Cody up front but Cody should return and that will be a massive bonus for Derek Lyng’s team.
Dublin for me are as strong as they have been in some time with the spine of their team really solid. Eoghan O’Donnell is in his best position at full-back, Conor Burke is hurling up a storm around midfield and Donal Burke is just class at 11.
The supporting crew around are in good form too, with Sean Currie firing over five points against Antrim. So can they beat Kilkenny?
They are in the best possible place to do so in terms of personnel on the field and the confidence they will have taken from recent victories but Kilkenny just don’t do poor two days in a row and the riot act will have been read following the Carlow game.
They will come out a wounded animal and I feel they will notch up their sixth championship win in a row over the Dubs.
Carlow's result and the performances around the field got lost in the mayhem that was Cork beating Limerick in such dramatic fashion on the same night but for me the way Carlow used the ball and the way they deployed Kevin McDonald into that sweeper role they deserved that draw and maybe more.
I'm afraid to say which Wexford will show up, the team that lost to Antrim or the one that demolished Galway with 14 men
They had heroes all over the field starting with Brian Treacy in goal, who produced a top class double save in the second half, one of which we would laud Nickie Quaid or Eoin Murphy for making and his puck-outs were top class too, a 79% return rate from 38 restarts.
Dion Wall at full-back did a brilliant job on TJ and up front Marty Kavanagh and Chris Nolan were class and the way they linked up with a sideline for one of the scores was a joy to watch.
They should have a full house for the Wexicans and deservedly so and they will take this game to Wexford knowing that sentimental victories mean very little now when they look at the fantastic progress they have made this year and the class players they have.
I’m afraid to say which Wexford will show up, the team that lost to Antrim or the one that demolished Galway with 14 men. Rory O’Connor has shown us the class he possesses and taking some of the scoring weight off Lee Chin is mighty for Wexford.
So for me there are two Wexfords, first gear Wexford or sixth gear Wexford, if it’s the former then Carlow will have their first victory of the year in this round robin and cue ecstatic scenes in Dr Cullen Park.
To Corrigan Park and Galway versus Antrim. After the Dublin game you can only see one result here but Antrim have proved us wrong already this year following a big defeat but it’s just so difficult to rise to that level of passion again for Antrim and, to be honest, if Galway do not win this match Henry Shefflin may just have to get off the bus in Dublin on the way home.
I’ll leave you with this quote to try and sum up the weekend ahead whilst we watch on at these gladiators - who have worked so hard all year - do battle once again:
"Anyone can train to be a gladiator, what marks you out is having the mindset of a champion".
Lets see who has that mindset now. God I love hurling!
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