John Horgan: Cork hurlers are well off the pace

THE hurling championship season is still very much at the infancy stage but the early portents are worrying from a Cork viewpoint.

They still have ample time to catapult themselves back into the frame in Munster but, on the evidence presented last Sunday against Limerick, things will have to improve significantly over the coming weeks.

In fact, based on what transpired last weekend, they would, at this juncture, be placed fourth in the provincial pecking order, behind Limerick, Waterford and Tipperary.

Clare have not entered the equation yet but will do so on Sunday when they tackle Tipperary in Thurles and at the conclusion of that game we’ll be in a far better position to assess their chances.

We put Cork behind Tipperary right now and that’s because the latter surely took a lot more positives from their four-point loss to Waterford than Cork took from their 11-point trouncing by Limerick.

Waterford justified the hype currently surrounding them with a deserved victory over Tipp at Walsh Park but the latter gave a fine account of themselves in their loss and there is certainly grounds for more optimism among their supporters than might have been there before they headed to the old ground in the Deise.

Tipperary certainly did not capitulate in the manner that Cork did against Limerick and were in the game a lot longer than what was the case in Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

And if they had not been so wayward with some of their final deliveries they might have been a lot closer than the four points that separated them from a team that is now, quite rightly, being put alongside Limerick as the leading candidates in the chase for the All-Ireland.

It was a gallant effort by a Tipp team that was written off in many quarters of the hurling world and that included quite a few of their own.

Of course, where they are concerned, that defeat will now have to be turned into a victory on Sunday against the Banner County and if that comes to pass this Tipperary team will be motoring in a much higher gear.

Their second home game in the championship against Cork will be on the final weekend of the group format and while it’s still far too early to be looking at that fixture, it could well be a decider as to which county will accompany Limerick and Waterford into the All-Ireland series.

In any Round Robin series things can change dramatically from one week to the next and a good performance can often be followed by an indifferent one and vice-versa.

However, when you lose the opening game, all the more so at home, the pressure is increased significantly and the margin for error is further minimised.

Cork don’t play this weekend and that gives the management the opportunity to study in greater detail the three opponents that they will face in the next couple of weeks.

Hardly anybody fancied Cork against Limerick but few foresaw the magnitude of the loss either.

It wasn’t as bad on the scoreboard as it was in Croke Park last August but it could have been and more because of Limerick's profligacy in splitting the posts.

Some people were questioning during the week about what learnings Cork had taken from that All-Ireland final loss last Autumn.

On the evidence presented last Sunday not enough.

But what’s past is past and what is so important now is what was learned from this latest defeat to the men in green?

That holds the key to what lies ahead and an extension of the Summer season.

Kieran Kingston was correct in saying that losing to Limerick would not define their season but it’s an absolute imperative now that in most sectors the necessary improvements are forthcoming.

Tipp, on the basis of how well they performed against Waterford and with home advantage, will be slightly fancied to see off Clare which would make the Cork, Clare battle next Sunday week an almost season defining encounter.

One loss in this Munster minefield does not put you out of contention but two almost certainly does.

In this Munster championship and with the margin for error so limited you need a team that will have at least two-thirds of its playing personnel playing at the top end of their game.

Cork had nowhere near that on Sunday down the Marina, they hadn’t it either in the league final loss to Waterford and, of course, in last season’s All-Ireland final too.

All that has to change going forward because if it does not the season may be shortened considerably.

The beauty of any round-robin competition is that things can be turned around quickly and that’s the task for these Cork hurlers now and the management team too, turn a poor loss into a victory the next day and get the season back on the rails.

This weekend it’s all about Clare and Tipp and Waterford and Limerick with many already thinking that the latter will be a dress rehearsal for the All-Ireland final, the two best teams in the country coming together on the Ennis Road.

With both counties having secured opening day victories, the Gaelic Grounds is likely to be bursting at the seams with Waterford supporters travelling in force as well A win for either will almost certainly guarantee qualification for the All-Ireland campaign.

And even at this still very early juncture in the championship there is enough evidence to suggest that this could be the best game of the entire championship.

Limerick get a tentative nod as do Tipperary in Thurle against Clare.

The battles intensify.