Cork hurlers must find a balance between blooding new players and hunting an overdue league title
Cork's Brian Hayes scores a goal against Galway last month. Picture: INPHO/Bryan Keane
NEARLY all the hurling counties have now had their first outing of the new season in either the Munster League or in the Walsh Cup in Leinster.
The starting 15s in each county at this point in time will bear little or no resemblance to the teams that will be setting sail on the champioship voyage in April.
That's the way it is at this time of the year, nearly all the emphasis where management teams are concerned is on experimentation, opprtunity knocking for players hoping to make the breakthrough into the bigger plan.
If you look at any of the teams that have taken part or are taking part in the pre-season competitions you won't find too many regulars who are near certainties to be involved in the provincial campaigns and thereafter in the All-Ireland on the starting block.
Outside of Austin Gleeson in Waterford, Seamus Callanan in Tipperary, Richie Hogan in Kilkenny, Shane Dooley in Offaly and here on Leeside, Alan Cadogan, there aren't too many more household names who have called it a day.
In Gleeson's case, he's taking a year's sabbatical from the intercounty arena and it goes without saying that his absence is a considerable blow in Waterford because on his best days he remains a hurler of great quality.
Outside of Limerick, all the rest of the yearly contenders share a common goal, halting the Shannonsiders in their bid to go where no other hurling county has gone before, winning the McCarthy Cup five years on the trot.
Kilkenny were the favourites to do so 14 years ago when they faced Tipperary in the All-Ireland final after their four-in-a-row haul of titles but that unprecedented challenge came up short on that September Sunday in Croke Park.
So, who is going to put and end to Limerick's bid?
To do so one of the chasing pack is very likely going to have to defeat them, not once but twice, maybe even three times.
Those three occasions would be in the province at the group stage, the Munster final and thereafter in the All-Ireland final.
Clare got the better of them at the group stage in Munster last season when they defeated them by a single point in the Gaelic Grounds when the Banner County might have celebrated that victory a little too much knowing their vanquished rivals were still going to be a major force in the championship.
When the sides collided again in the Munster final a few weeks later only a point divided the teams again but this time it was Limerick who were celebrating.
It was very much a case of beat me once but not twice.
There is a strong belief this time that, on the evidence of last season, this Limerick team might be running out of road a bit but only time will tell if that is the case.
That belief is based on how close they were to going out of the championship in Munster, losing once to Clare, drawing with Tipperary and getting home by the skin of their teeth against Cork.
But they did what all great teams who have gone before them did, they survived, stood tall as they answered the biggest questions put to them and for the fourth time in four consecutive years they ensured that Liam McCarthy rested by the banks of the Shannon.
In a recent interview, former Tipp star, John 'Bubbles' Dwyer suggested and he has been proved right up to now that the only way to end Limerick's championship aspirations is to stop them in Munster, deny them being in the top three of the five participating counties.
He stated that when they get out of the province and straight into an All-Ireland semi-final they are almost, as has been proved, near impossible to stop.
This year will test them sternly again, maybe more so than ever and having to travel to Páirc Uí Chaoimh and to Cusack Park, they face rivals in Cork and Clare who must make home advantage count fully.
Of course, it's all very much in the distance at this moment in time and a lot can happen in the interim period, particularly in the national league when an injury or two can have a big impact on a team's challenge.
Last season, Cork were without key players of the calibre of Mark Coleman and Robbie O'Flynn when they faced Limerick and with only a point dividing the teams at the conclusion, who knows what their presence might have done.
The line between victory and subsequent progress to the All-Ireland series and defeat resulting in elimination has never been as thin as it has been in Munster and is likely to remain so.
In terms of young talent coming to the forefront, Cork look to be in a healthier state than a lot of the other contenders in both provinces.
But come the championship, how much change will there be for Cork?
One might say not a lot and up to 10, maybe more of last season's starting 15 will remain in place and that may well be the case in most other counties.
Limerick might be fielding an almost alternative 15 in the current Munster League but when the championship comes around there will not be too many, if any changes to last season's 15.
The spring and the national league might change things when a consistency of performance by a newcomer might make it very difficult for a team management to leave him out for the start of the championship.
That will be the scenario in Cork when we need to see players like Brian Hayes, Ben Cunningham, Conor O'Callaghan, and Cormac O'Brien among others putting forward their cases. There's enough young talent in Cork right now alongside the experience dimension to the side to have a right cut off the league.
Yes, the timing of both competitions is much changed now, much closer to each other but success in one can lead to bigger things going forward as this Limerick team has proved.
It's going to be a springtime of huge importance in a lot of counties in their bid to unseat John Kiely's men.
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