Cork v Kilkenny: valuable points up for grabs as both sides battle injuries

Following their first league defeat of the season, Pat Ryan’s Cork will host Kilkenny this weekend in a triple header at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

After losing out in last year’s All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship semi-final to the competition’s eventual winners, Kilkenny will be hoping to win their first Liam MacCarthy Cup title since 2015.

While the last few years have been bitterly disappointing for Kilkenny, Limerick’s fragility, along with Cork and Clare’s surprise, means the competition is far more open – something they’ll hope to thrive on.

Their league campaign hasn’t been exceptional or awful – and they sit second in the Division 1A table following wins over Wexford and Clare, but defeat to Galway and a postponed match with Limerick leaves them trailing Tipperary by two points.

WINTER BLUES 

Despite the sluggish start and the laissez-faire attitude to the national leagues as a whole, it’s been a mixed bag for Kilkenny so far.

Martin Keoghan’s scoring form has appeared to be the Cats biggest positive from three games, with his 2-12 ensuring he’s Kilkenny’s top scorer from play as we circle the halfway mark of league fixtures.

Billy Drennan and Eoin Cody have shared the free taking duties and have both done well, while the return of Eoin Murphy – who was named to start against Limerick, marks a huge boost for Derek Lyng’s side.

Tommy Walsh also returned to the starting 15, but Adrien Mullen, TJ Reid and captain John Donnelly were still on the sidelines as of last weekend.

It’s not as if Cork are without injuries – but are the Rebels missing as many crucial players? I wouldn’t say so.

MERIT 

It would be unfair to take the league games solely on merit, given each team will have one eye on championship.

That’s especially true in the case of teams in 1A. Just look at last weekend’s meeting between the All-Ireland champions and a depleted Wexford. You’ll never guess who came out on top.

Nonetheless there are always talking points to come from league games, particularly when the top flight has been made all the more competitive with the reduction to seven teams.

Taking this game alone – if Kilkenny win and Cork lose, Lyng’s side will be looking at title hopes, while Cork will be facing down the barrel of relegation. This competition can twist and turn in an instant.

It’s a big change from the previous format.

Cork will need a win to avoid that relegation question though, and it won’t be easy – even if we’re likely to see a big crowd in the Páirc on Saturday evening.

Cody and Keoghan are both averaging a minimum of six points a game and will get scores this weekend, as Darragh McCarthy did last week in Thurles.

Neither Cork nor Kilkenny have been scoring a lot of points – but the winter months and challenging conditions may have had something to do with that. You can bank on this one to be a close encounter, though which way the pendulum will swing is where the prediction gets a little trickier.

Kilkenny haven’t been great in the first half so far this season – as they trailed Clare and Galway at the break both times.

They turned it around to defeat the Banner and should have done the same against Galway. The only game they did lead at the short whistle was against Wexford, with their Round 3 contest a forgone conclusion at the break, with Kilkenny up 12.

Cork have had the same problem, only leading once – against Wexford. But they are yet to come from behind and win.

Hopefully Ryan’s side can pick up a second win of the campaign this weekend.