John Horgan on the hurlers who deserve a chance with Cork in the league

IT'S that time of the year again when inter-county management teams are putting their plans in place and piecing together their preliminary squads for the beginning of the 2024 season.

They will have spent the last couple of months out and about on the club front looking at players who they believe might have something to offer going forward.

In some counties there will have been retirements, players out with long-term injuries and players who will have been cut from the previous season's squad for various reasons.

That's the way it is, nothing stays the same and no matter how successful a county may have been in that previous season there is always going to be a need for change, the squad to be embellished.

One can be certain that despite Limerick's phenomenal sequence of success over the past four years, John Kiely is always seeking to improve and to ensure that complacency is never allowed to set in.

Obviously, there is a greater need in some counties to try and make things better than they were in the previous league and championship campaigns.

With the current group stage format in place with only three counties from Munster and Leinster alongside the two Joe McDonagh representatives, four top counties are going to have a shortened hurling summer.

In fact, that summer will end in the month of May as it did for Cork and Waterford last time out.

Former Cork boss, Kieran Kingston backed by Davy Fitzgerald in Waterford, put forward the case last week that four instead of three counties should go forward into the All-Ireland series therefore ensuring that you would not have lopsided preliminary quarter-finals as you had last season when Tipperary hammered Offaly to the tune of 7-28 to 3-18.

Carlow, to be fair to them, fared a bit better against Dublin, losing by 10 points but it's clear that there is a considerable gap exists between the leading counties and those competing in the McDonagh Cup.

EDGE

An interesting observation but the counterargument is that if you had four of the five competing counties in both provinces going through it might lessen the fiercely competitive nature of both groups, particularly in Munster when every game is fought with such intensity and the description of the campaign being a minefield is very appropriate.

Kingston, quite rightly, stated having four top counties out of commission by the end of May is not right and he has a point when there is hardly a puck of a ball between all the counties.

But that's the way it is and will remain so going into next season when it's likely to be ultra-competitive again and as people say, why fix it if it's not broken?

The status quo remains for next season but there could be further debate in the future and Kingston's comments have started that debate.

Anyway, one is certain that Cork boss, Pat Ryan, ably assisted by the rest of his management team, has been out and about since the domestic campaign began on Leeside in their search for some new blood.

BOOST

For starters there will be two considerable additions from last season's squad, the fit-again Mark Coleman and Robbie O'Flynn, the latter marked absent for most of the 2023 campaign and Coleman for the entire campaign, two certain starters if they had been fit and maybe making that extra bit of difference that might have got Cork out of Munster.

Having both fully fit again is a huge starting point for Ryan and his selectors when they welcome Limerick and Clare to Páirc Uí Chaoimh and the away trips to Thurles and Walsh Park.

The Cork management have another plus to work off from in their plans, they have the successful All-Ireland U20 team of last season and it's certain that some of that winning combination will figure in their deliberations.

Goalkeeper Brion Saunderson has had a very positive innings for Midleton during their run to the county final and appears to have all the attributes to enter the equation. In their semi-final victory over the Barrs, he made some vital stops, was always alert and one of his long deliveries out of defence ended up in what must go down as the point of the season.

New county champions, Sarsfields had huge contributions in their march to glory from Cathal McCarthy and Aaron Myers, McCarthy's forays from corner-back upfield yielding some massive points while Myers was very consistent all season. We should see both in the pre-season.

Going back to the successful U20 team, captain Micheál Mullins led by example all through while Diarmuid Healy exhibited his potential too. The Barrs duo, Ben Cunningham and William Buckley, will be very much at the forefront of the deliberations too as will full-back Shane Kingston from Ballinora.

And there might be others, players that might not have caught our eye; it's the job of management teams to see something that might be of benefit.

Limerick have set an almost unprecedented standard over the past few seasons and their physicality, movement, that fine edge when they go in for the tackle has to be matched more by the rest of the chasing pack.

That physicality and how they close you down has been a key factor in their four-in-a-row story of success and, of course, how they always seem to find a way even when they are not reaching their maximum potential. Every other county boss will be of a similar mind: we will have to stand up and be counted that bit more.

Over the course of the various championships here in Cork, you would have to say that we would have liked to have seen more players put up their hand with regard to making a case for intercounty inclusion. But in the pre-season and in the national league it will be vitally important that those who will get their chance are able to grasp it and ensure that they will be in the championship plan.

Having the aforementioned Mark Coleman and Robbie O'Flynn available again will be a hugely positive base to start off from. Let's hope a few more can make a strong case to join them.

And it's the strength of your squad, as Limerick have shown, that can make the difference.