John Horgan: League has given Munster young guns chance to shine

It's becoming increasingly likely that this season's league final will be contested by two Munster teams, two from Tipperary, Cork and Limerick.

And if that comes to pass it will only serve to rubberstamp Munster's superiority over Leinster on the national stage in recent times.

There are differing views on this season's secondary competition, some believing that it has been more competitive than it might have been in the past, others not so sure.

How many games did we get that contained the intensity that the championship brings, did the excitement levels reach what we are almost certain to get from Easter Sunday onwards?

In the three Division 1A games last weekend, Cork against Clare, Tipperary against Kilkenny and Limerick against Galway, the outcome at the end in all three was substantial in one team's victory over the other, 15 points for Cork against Clare, 12 for Limerick over Galway and nine for Tipp against Kilkenny.

Those outcomes ensured that all three games were done and dusted long before the last whistle and it didn't make for a great look from a competitive angle. 

But the league is what it is, the over-riding priority being to ensure that counties are entering the championship arena in the best possible shape, have a bit of momentum behind them and that management teams have found a few new entrants for their squad, players that are capable of impacting from the bench.

STRONG HANDS

Some counties benefit more than others in that regard and thus far in the campaign, Limerick appear to have benefited that bit more, players of the calibre of Shane O'Brien, Aidan O'Connor and Adam English putting up very strong hands.

The return last weekend of Peter Casey from a protracted absence through injury has been another plus for John Kiely and at this point in time it looks like the management have a stronger hand to deal with before the big championship days are upon us. 

And Darragh O'Donovan and Declan Hannon will be back in the mix as well.

Diarmuid Healy has been the standout player from the newcomers that Pat Ryan has introduced while Michael Mullins and Cormac O'Brien have been putting forward their cases as well. Brian Roche had a solid outing last Sunday in Cusack Park and Jack Cahalane is another with plenty of potential.

Tipperary are doing very well too in integrating fresh blood into their set-up with Darragh McCarthy making the biggest impression of the lot with his scoring exploits and his ice-cool calmness in converting the placed ball. He is probably the player of the season so far.

Sam O'Farrell and Oisin O'Donoghue are others who have caught the eye for the Premier County, who have been the standout team in the Division 1A campaign and as a result have entered the championship conversation a lot more than might have been envisaged after last season's very poor return when a couple of trouncings left the folk up there in a very negative state of mind.

Clare had Jack O'Neill and Sean Rynne very effective in their victory over Limerick and the latter rifled over two fine points in last Sunday's capitulation against Cork.

DARK HORSES

We must bring Waterford into the equation too and how they appear to be getting their act together in IB after their opening loss to Carlow. They wiped the floor with Westmeath last Sunday and the return of Austin Gleeson has to be viewed as a huge positive for Peter Queally.

They might be ranked as the outsiders of the five counties in the Munster championship but that is the rock an opponent or two might perish on.

The message here has to be, write off no team in the Munster minefield.

Of course, it will all boil down to how these newcomers perform in the Munster championship and the physical intensity that will bring.

There is just one major hurling game this weekend, the clash of Limerick and Kilkenny at Nowlan Park tomorrow when the Cats will be hoping to do a whole pile better than they did against Tipperary when nine points separated the teams.

There was a time when Kilkenny made Nowlan Park a fortress where the welcoming mat was always put out for visiting teams, a nice cup of tea too before your team departed empty-handed.

Kilkenny no longer have the strength in depth that they had in the Cody years and there is still a large dependence on TJ Reid to get scores and to win possession up front which was very evident against Tipp.

There will be some despondency in the Banner County with relegation to 1B now imminent after how outclassed they were against Cork.

Outside of their victory over Limerick they haven't had much to crow about but a word of warning, don't get carried away with the outcome of league games in February and March.

In some of their performances in the secondary competition during the Ger Loughnane era they didn't set the world on fire either but a few months later they were Munster and All-Ireland champions.

And have no doubt, Bian Lohan will use the result against Cork as ammunition for the meeting between the counties again on Easter Sunday.

Anyone who knows anything about hurling will be aware that it will be an entirely different story that day and be certain sure too, the Cork management won't be lulled into a type of false sense of security for that encounter after what transpired last Sunday.

In the aftermath of last weekend's games, there was nearly more talk about the red and yellow cards that were dished out rather than there was about the results, the Kilkenny, Tipperary game and the Cork and Clare coming together in Cusack Park.

There were differing opinions, certainly on The Sunday Game when Liam Sheedy and Jackie Tyrell disagreed on some of the sending-offs.

Yes, some of the reds were justified and in most instances, they came about over head-high fouls.

It's very clear now that any contact with an opponent's head is going to have serious consequences.

That is the strong message from Croke Park but it appeared that message was not relayed properly to team managers and subsequently the players.

That must be addressed far more properly, far better communication to players on how they play the games within the rules.

From a TV viewpoint, the sending off of Tipp's Alan Tynan and Kilkenny's Jordan Molloy seemed a bit harsh and there was a difference of opinion too on the dismissal of Clare's Peter Duggan against Cork while Galway's Conor Cooney was very fortunate to stay on the pitch after his tackle on Limerick's Mike Casey.