Tony Considine: Unusual for Cork hurling people to have so little faith in their team

IF ever an advertisement was true, I think it was the AIB one about the hurling championship: "Nothing beats being there." 

Well, we all know how true that is for the last year or so, and of course the big effect it has had on the hurling. I believe the absence of crowds has had a huge bearing on the games we are watching. 

Players are finding it hard to perform to their best in the present environment, a big empty stadium does not add much to the game. It's hard for them to get really motivated for battle especially players who have been used to hearing the noise of the crowd for a number of years; silence is not golden here! 

Hopefully, that will change soon and we can get the supporters back to a decent and safe level.

Anyway, I suppose we can count ourselves lucky that we have a hurling championship of some sort. The provincial championships have now started and I am a big fan of them, especially the Munster championship, but I wonder has it the same appeal for teams as it had before? 

I don't think so. 

RADICAL

Losing in the provincial championship, especially when it is not a knockout, does not seem to have the same appeal, as you are still in the All-Ireland series, and really that is all that matters to teams now. Maybe it is time the GAA looked at an open draw for the All-Ireland, at least on a trial period for a couple of years. It might add a lot of freshness to the hurling and give everything a lift.

To the championship itself and all the talk has been about the team that is favourite for the All-Ireland, which is Limerick. And they have every right to that. 

The big plus for Limerick is they are the All-Ireland champions. As we all know it is hard to beat champions. Limerick are lucky in a sense after winning last year's All-Ireland final that there was no celebrating and no demands on the players to be turning up at various functions around the country and giving speeches and signing autographs and listening to people ranting and raving and telling them how good they were. 

That can have a wearing effect on players. Not alone that, but maybe having to go to the UK or America with the cup, for some function or other, and listening to fellas crying about their homeland and how they miss it. Of course, these players didn't get a foreign holiday either so John Kiely has a complete set of fresh players coming into him, and hungry for success again.

Like a lot of teams, I think they did not take the league too seriously, which is another plus for them. All their energies going into trying to retain the All-Ireland, which is not an easy thing to do, with every team out to topple them.

Limerick have the players that do not mind that though. They are physically a very strong team with a lot of quality all over the field, some great hurlers like Sean Finn, Dan Morrissey, Diarmuid Byrnes and Kyle Hayes in defence, guys like Tom Morrissey and Gearóid Hegarty and Aaron Gillane in their attack, and of course the player that makes it all happen for them, Cian Lynch whatever position they play him in, he seems to be their main man. 

Of course, all these players have to avoid injury as well, and sometimes that is not easy.

I believe Limerick have weaknesses too, and one is sometimes a lack of pace in their defence, and I think a team running at them can and will cause them problems down the road.

Composure is very important when taking on Limerick because they play to a set pattern and they support one another very well, and you have got to match them in that aspect of the game. Some teams are capable of doing this. Limerick are the team that everyone wants to knock off their perch, but it won't be easy.

Cork are a team that are the opposite of Limerick, talking to some Cork people, unusual for them, they seem to lack confidence in this Cork team. And also they've doubts about the system they are playing. 

INCONSISTENT

In fairness to Kieran Kingston and his management team, they have tried other methods of playing, which were not very successful, so he has to change, and with Donal O'Grady coming into the backroom team, that was always going to happen anyway. The last time Donal was involved with Cork, they won All-Irelands playing the running game but that is a number of years ago now, and Cork have a much different type of player now than they had then.

The big problem for Cork over the last number of years is their consistency from game to game and even during games. 

They have players that can do serious damage for maybe 20 min and then disappear out of the game. 

This is something they have to correct, there is no doubt about it, some of their players have the pace and the ability to destroy the opposition but they just don't keep up that pressure when they have a team on the back foot. 

If they can get that killer instinct into their game, which they find hard to do, I believe they have as good a chance as any, with players like Mark Coleman, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Shane Kingston, Jack O'Connor, Alan Cadogan, and of course that prince of forwards Patrick Horgan. 

And if they can get their defence playing as defenders, in other words marking their men, tightly, and I mean tightly, putting the squeeze on every time, playing defenders hurling, and not fancy hurling, which they tend to do at times, maybe the Cork supporter will get more confidence, but it is time for this team to show them something like that. 

The red jersey has to mean danger again, which it hasn't been for a long time. 

As Christy Ring once said about Cork hurlers 'they are like mushrooms, they can come overnight'. Maybe they might start to think like that. Nothing comes in championship without hard work.

Galway are the team most like Limerick at the moment. 

They have a lot of quality players all over the field, big physical players with plenty of skill and aggression in their play, but the problem for them is they do not seem to know their best 15, or at least sometimes they do not field their best 15, and I think this is what cost them last year against Limerick, plus the injuries to Joe Canning and Cathal Mannion, when they were in a winning position. 

Now this is Shane O'Neill's second year in charge so he will know a lot more about the players and the team he wants to put out, but with Daithí Burke, Padraig Mannion, Gearoid McInerney, Brian Concannon, big Joe and of course one of the best forwards at the moment Conor Whelan, Galway have the talent to put it up to anyone.

Tipperary are another team that have a chance. Liam Sheedy is very loyal to the older players but these players have a lot of mileage on the clock, can he get another year out of them?

Guys like Pádraic Maher, Brendan Maher, Noel McGrath, Seamus Callanan... these guys have been great servants to Tipp and to hurling in general, but is time catching up? We will all know after this championship, and so will Liam Sheedy. 

You can never rule Tipp out, as you can never rule out Kilkenny, who seem to be coming with a decent team again. As we know the Cats are never easily beaten, and if anyone can get a tune out of them Brian Cody can.

Wexford, Clare, Waterford and Dublin will all make up for what could be an exciting championship, and you never know what happens in championship. 

Let's hope it's good and the crowds get back in to enjoy it.