John Horgan on hurling: League is a balancing act for all managers

LEAGUE results can differ greatly at this time of the year, a team producing a very good performance one week and falling well short the next.

That’s the nature of the league and down through many a campaign the only consistency has been the inconsistency.

It’s also a time for most team bosses to experiment, trying out players that they might have had their eye on for a while in club games and throwing them in at the deeper end of what the national league is.

Team managers are conscious too of what is going on at this time of the year with so many of their players involved in the business end of the third level colleges competitions.

There is the risk too of a key player suffering a bad injury as was the case with Mayo footballer Tommy Conroy last week in the Sigerson Cup, an injury that has terminated his inter-county season in the month of February.

BALANCE

The league is very much a balancing act and getting that balance as right as possible.

Every inter-county team has a panel of at least 30 players now and team management will want to use as many players as they can over the course of the league campaign. There isn’t much point in having players sitting on a bench without ever getting onto the field of play.

So, it’s inevitable and necessary for team selections to differ from game to game and despite Cork’s fine win over Clare last weekend, it will be a surprise if the same 15 are on the starting block again.

The hurling league goes a stage further over the coming days and for the sides who were on the wrong end of the scoreline in the opening round there is that extra little bit of pressure.

It might only be the league but no team wants to be facing into the third round and having two losses alongside their name. Without doubt, the major talking point from the opening weekend was Limerick’s loss to Wexford in Wexford Park.

And the fact that over the 70 minutes the team that has been scoring almost as it likes over the past few seasons could only put 11 points on the board.

Now when was the last time Limerick managed such a meagre return in a competitive game?

They did shoot 18 wides and team boss John Kiely will certainly not be panicking over the outcome but he will want a response when they take on Galway on Saturday in the Gaelic Grounds. This is the big game of the weekend in Division 1A and the traffic on the Ennis Road is certain to be bumper to bumper for this one, all the more so because it will be the first serious test for Henry Shefflin as an inter-county manager.

Galway blew Offaly away last Sunday and the Cork management was probably keeping an eye on that game as they head to Tullamore on Sunday.

It’s very early to be assuming anything but it does look like the Faithful County are a bit out of their depth in this division.

However, Cork have a job to do on Sunday, bag the points on offer and make it two wins from two before the next assignment against the All-Ireland champions.

Kieran Kingston wants to develop a greater winning mentality among his players and see how far they can progress in the secondary competition.

It would be a surprise if anything other than a Cork win was the case but in the league and because of its inconsistent nature, nothing can be ever taken for granted.

And didn’t Antrim travel to Nowlan Park last Sunday and really put it up to Kilkenny before Brian Cody’s team came out with just a three-point win.

There was certainly a stark contrast between the Cork and Clare game last weekend and the Limerick, Wexford affair.

There were times in the Cork, Clare game when the proceedings were just too open altogether and scores were coming far too easy.

That’s no disrespect to Cork who did their job very efficiently but it was a far different story in Wexford Park when there was a much greater cutting edge and the marking was much tighter.

Admittedly, both sides were very wasteful and they shared 32 wides between them but it was still a very entertaining game with no quarter asked or given.

It was certainly a great start to the league campaign in the first division for the new men at the helm, Colm Bonner in Tipperary, Darragh Egan with Wexford and Shefflin with Galway all registering first day victories.

This weekend the main focus of attention in Division 1B will be the collision of Tipperary and Kilkenny in Thurles on Sunday.

The age-old rivalry never fails to produce a few talking points and despite the fact that both have fallen down the ladder a bit in recent times, the edge is always there when they face each other.

And the bragging rights are always of significance no matter what the status of the game.

Yes, just week two of the competitive year and things are starting to get more interesting. And we saw February hurling at its best already with that cracking draw between Dublin and Waterford last Sunday.