John Horgan on Cork v Limerick: League clash will have championship bite

It's not too often that a league game on the first weekend in February has generated as much interest as that which surrounds the coming together of Cork and Limerick at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Cork and Tipperary used to be Munster hurling's fiercest rivalry and it still is but maybe not to the same extent that it was in bygone times.

In fact, one could make the suggestion that great rivalry has been overtaken by the two counties that will collide Saturday night.

Over the past number of years, Cork and Limerick clashes have developed into a rivalry that has taken on a life of its own.

That rivalry will be very evident again this time when the expectation is that the attendance record for a league encounter in February will be tested.

The likelihood is that there will be much higher profile showdowns between the two counties further down the line, starting with the round-robin Munster championship game at the Gaelic Grounds later in the spring.

The two counties might even meet in the Munster final or in the big day in Croke Park in July. That's all, of course, for another day and for now it's all about tomorrow night.

Cork enter the contest maybe the slightest of favourites on the basis that they have already a competitive game under their belt, the emphatic league opening win over Wexford.

Limerick will be on league duty for the first time in the new season although John Kiely has been keeping his players active on the challenge circuit.

Last Sunday they took on Waterford in the last of those challenge games and manufactured a victory by six or seven points.

In that game, Kiely fielded almost separate teams in both halves against what was a Waterford side in very experimental mode themselves.

That's the nature of those type of games, give time to as many players as possible, particularly the newcomers called into the equation hoping to make the necessary type of statement that might force the hand of the management.

There will still be plenty of shadowboxing during the league campaign with every county hoping to further deepen its panel for the championship.

BLOW

Limerick have been installed as the fancy in the thoughts of quite a few pundits to regain the MacCarthy Cup although the odds have lengthened slightly when it became known that the county's number one goalkeeper, Nicky Quaid would not be available because of injury.

Does the absence of one player make that much difference to a team?

The belief is probably yes in this case because Limerick have lost for now anyway the player who has been such an integral part of their phenomenal run of success up to last season.

Yes, Quaid, following in the footsteps of his late, great father, Tommy has played a huge role for the Shannonsiders with his vast number of qualities, most notably his shot-stopping, his ability to distribute puck-outs that immediately put his team on the front foot.

The art of distribution from your goalkeeper has become a vital component in how a team is set up and over the years this Limerick team have become very dependent on Quaid's ability to distribute with so much efficiency.

His replacement on Saturday night will be either Jason Gillane or returning former star, Shane Dowling who has been reinvented as a top-class keeper for his club, Na Piarsaigh.

The mention, of course, of Dowling brings back unhappy memories for Cork in the 2018 All-Ireland semi-final when his introduction and scoring contribution as a substitute was a primary reason on how the game was changed in Limerick's direction.

There is always chopping and changing of personnel during the league but it's likely that both counties won't be in that much of an experimental mode as they might be in some other games.

COMPETITIVE

Cork have just one competitive game played but already it's become very evident that competition for starting places is going to be more intense than it's ever been.

In fact, there is reason to believe that at this point in time, Cork have the strongest panel in the country.

With three All-Ireland U20 titles bagged in recent years one would expect that to be one of the reasons why that is the case.

In every line of the field there is now huge competition and if one of the newcomers to the panel is afforded the opportunity to state his case he has to grasp it with both hands from the word go.

It's very much a case of seizing the moment. In nearly every quarter last weekend, Cork were expected to collect the league points against Wexford and they did just that with a certain amount of authority.

Wexford were very depleted but Cork were minus quite a number of marquee names as well and any victory on away turf at this early juncture in the season cannot be taken lightly.

Whilst Pat Ryan will have been very satisfied with the victory and the performance of a few of the players who were making their competitive debut there will be a realisation too that this new league format will provide far more searching questions going forward.

And if Ryan and his selectors were happy enough, Liam Cahill in Tipperary must have been thrilled with his team's display against Galway in Salthill.

This was a significant statement by a fairly new-look Tipp team and will have gone a little away to answering those in the Premier County who are not at all hopeful about this current Tipp set-up.

Certainly, from a TV viewpoint, this was a thoroughly impressive opening-day win from a county seeking to emerge from the doldrums of recent times.

On the other side of the coin, Micheal O'Donoghue on his return to the county that he won an All-Ireland with cannot have been too pleased.

But, as they say, it's only the league and only time will provide us with more information.

However, winning is always a good habit to get into, building up a bit of momentum too and both Cork and Tipp have that behind them for now.

The atmosphere on Saturday night should be championship-esque given the recent blockbusters between both counties...

There was a school of thought in the aftermath of last season's All-Ireland semi-final that this Limerick team had seen its best days.

A foolish observation one believes and John Kiely would not be staying around if he thought that more honours were not coming their way. And be certain, he'll want to come away from the Páirc tomorrow night with a win.

Pat Ryan too will want to continue with the positive vibes surrounding his own squad.

It all adds up to some real Saturday night fever.