Cork v Clare: John Horgan on the hurlers' league opener

THERE used to be a time when a very successful national league campaign was seen as a deterrent to your championship chances.

The perception was that as a result of league success, a team peaked too soon and very often the early season positivity was not continued into the championship.

When the championship came around certain players suffered a loss of form and the momentum that carried them to a victory in the secondary competition was not maintained.

That, of course, is hardly ever the case now and in fact, a strong league innings is viewed in a different light altogether.

Counties with a positive league campaign behind them are often the leading championship contenders, success in one competition being carried into the next.

Next weekend the national hurling league will be up and running, the shadow boxing of pre-season games at an end and the real thing beginning.

With grounds now back to full capacity the expectation is that all the games in the top two divisions will generate huge crowds because there is now a greater appetite among fans more than ever before to go to a game because of the restrictions of the past two seasons.

We saw that happening in the pre-season competitions when you had up to nine or ten thousand attending games in the Munster League.

There are new management teams in quite a few counties, Tipperary, Galway and Wexford for starters and that will add to the interest in the opening rounds in particular.

In Division 1A, Cork and Clare have the honour of firing the opening shots on Saturday evening at Páirc Uí Chaoimh and a bumper attendance is on the cards.

Both team bosses, Kieran Kingston and Brian Lohan are back in place and they’ll certainly be hoping that the old adage applies of a good start being half the battle.

No doubt there will be some mention this week of their last meeting in the championship and of how Patrick Collins denied Tony Kelly right at the death in that game.

Injury will prevent the great Ballyea club man from lining out on this occasion but the Banner County will be determined to show that they are far more than a one-man team.

There will be newcomers on both teams, there will have to be, Kingston and Lohan having a good, hard look at players who might come into the championship equation.

Clare might have a very slight advantage insofar as they had a few decent run-outs in the Munster League whilst Cork were relying on a few challenge games against UCC and Tipperary.

Cork will certainly have to target this opening assignment for a win because in the five group games that they will play, three are on away soil with just Clare and Galway at home.

A win next Saturday evening would set them up nicely for the away trip to Tullamore to face Offaly and that’s a game you would expect them to prevail in.

Two wins on the trot would have them in a positive frame of mind for the ultimate test that will follow, a meeting in the Gaelic Grounds with Limerick That will be followed by a home game with Galway and the group stage will be wound up with an always difficult task, a trip to Wexford Park.

There will be nothing too easy in any of those games one would think and the margin for error will be minimal if you are to go further.

Cork’s record as far as winning the league is concerned has not been good over the past 40 years or so, just three victories in '81, 1993 and 1998.

The last one in 1998, of course, was the forerunner to the All-Ireland victory of a year later and five years earlier when Wexford were defeated after three epic games, Brian Corcoran was the team captain and it marked the beginning of one of the great Cork hurling careers So what will the Cork management be looking for from this league campaign?

Straight off they should want to go out and win it outright, a very big task, of course, but if the likes of Limerick and Kilkenny can use it as the platform for championship success a few months later, why can’t Cork.

The championship campaign of 2021 did not end well therefore it’s very important to begin the new year positively.

Winning your two home games should certainly be an imperative and, with respect to Offaly, the maximum return must be the case too from the visit to O’Connor Park in Tullamore.

The expectation is that there will be debutants in the team to face Clare and they will be going full on to create the right impression from the off.

Early momentum builds up confidence in young players and gets the supporters behind you too going forward.

Elsewhere in Division 1A the main focus of attention will be on Henry Shefflin’s first major game in charge of Galway and he will want to repeat the Walsh Cup win over his old teammate Michael Fennelly against Offaly.

It would be a big surprise if he doesn’t.

There will be a large turnout for Darragh Egan’s first competitive game in charge of Wexford and the visit of the team that tops the pecking order by a distance right now, Limerick.

So, for what it’s worth, here is our forecast for the three Division 1A games, Cork to win, Galway to win and a similar story with Limerick.