A good league for Cork won't necessarily result in a bad championship

After a weekend off as the inter-varsity competitions wrapped up – Cork’s Seán Twomey and Brian O’Sullivan earning second straight Fitzgibbon Cup medals with UL – the focus returns to the Allianz Hurling League.

The third round of five in the regular section of the competition could be compared with the phenomenon ‘moving day’ on the Saturday of a golf major, when the real contenders push up the leaderboard, ready for a surge at the business end.

Of course, Cork would be quite happy to avoid any movement, given that they currently sit top of Division 1 Group A as the only side in the six-team section to have enjoyed two wins from their opening two games. And one can hardly say that they’re where they are because of a soft opening to their fixture-list as reigning All-Ireland champions Limerick and the side third-favourites in the reckoning, Galway, were the sides seen off.

As the action resumes, Westmeath are the visitors to Páirc Uí Chaoimh this Sunday, a game that is part of a double-header with the Cork-Limerick Allianz Football League Division 2 tie.

While one would expect that Cork will show Westmeath respect and not take the game for granted, it’s likely that there will be an opportunity taken to look at some players who have had limited minutes so far in the league. Even so, with the Lake County having lost away to Clare and then at home to Wexford, they are bottom of the table and it is highly unlikely that the outcome won’t follow the formlines.

That would leave Cork with a maximum six points from six after three games and in with a very strong chance of finishing in the top two and securing a place in the semi-finals, which take place in the last weekend in March. A win there and the final is on the weekend of April 8/9.

After last year, when Waterford beat Cork in the league final only to then fail to qualify out of the Munster SHC – and Cork followed the final defeat with reversals against Limerick and Clare in the championship – there is almost a sense that going too far in the competition is a hindrance and should be avoided time around.

Of course, it’s a pure example of narrative fallacy. Nobody was saying that Waterford’s league win was costly when they opened their championship with a win over Tipperary and then ran Limerick close – in fact, the consensus was that that game was leg one of a trilogy as the counties were expected to meet again in the Munster and All-Ireland deciders. It was the re-match with Cork in Walsh Park that killed Waterford and, prior to that encounter, an away win was seen as an outside chance.

For Cork’s part, the league final loss didn’t prevent them scoring an unanswered 1-2 out of the gun in the first championship match, against Limerick in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. That the best team in the country came back to win had more to do with them than any lingering hangover Cork had. Then, the defeat against Clare was a poor performance against a team that had momentum after beating Tipperary. The league wasn’t mentioned too much as Cork bounced back to beat Waterford, Tipp and Antrim and it certainly wasn’t a factor in the display of wayward shooting in the quarter-final defeat to Galway.

When Cork beat Limerick in the Co-op SuperStores Munster Hurling League in Páirc Uí Rinn in January, a result that earned them a place in the final, Pat Ryan welcomed it as the team would only have been playing a challenge match the following week anyway. Similarly, games in the latter part of the national league represent a better championship preparation than challenge games.

In any case, with Cork not involved on the first weekend of the Munster championship and having to wait until April 30 for their opener at home to Waterford, means that, even if they were to make it to the league final, they would have a three-week break between that and their next outing.

In terms of trying to ensure that a young squad is ready for the championship, having as many high-intensity games as possible can surely only be a good thing.