John Horgan: Huge interest in Ben O'Connor's first hurling league team

Cork hurling boss Ben O'Connor might or might not have liked another game in the Munster League in advance of the league proper, which begins next Sunday.

He might have wanted another opportunity to look at some of the players who were trying to put their hand up to be included in the squad for the secondary competition.

On the other hand, he and his selectors might have seen enough in the three pre-season games that Cork played, the Canon O'Brien Cup encounter against UCC and the Munster League games against Limerick and Clare.

There would have been an in-house game too, A v B last Saturday when learnings were taken and decisions were finally arrived at where certain players were concerned, whether or not they had provided sufficient evidence that merited their inclusion for the next couple of months.

Without hardly any of last season's squad featuring in those games, opportunity knocked for many others to state their case.

The first team and squad for the opening game of the new competitive season will be revealed later in the week and for the visit of Waterford to Leeside, the interest will be great.

You could say it's the most eagerly awaited Cork team for some time.

How many of the team that fielded against Tipperary in last season's All-Ireland final will start, how many complete newcomers will there be, who will occupy the pivotal berths on the team and so on.

Outside factors are at play too, the ongoing Fitzgibbon Cup when it looks highly likely that both of the Cork colleges will be involved at the knockout stage. O'Connor has already made some big calls since his tenure began and some highly experienced players have departed the equation.

In all counties, those calls, difficult and all as they are, are made and have to be made.

The much-used term, shadow boxing, might be used to describe games in pre-season competitions and the real stuff only begins with the national league opener and the games in that competition that follow.

There used to be a time when a protracted league campaign, finishing up at the top of the pile, might have been viewed as militating against your chances in the championship. Too much effort too early in the season could have been a problem, peaking too soon.

Lately, that theory has been blown out of the water and the only case of a league-winning team failing dismally in the championship was Waterford, who failed to emerge from the group stage in Munster that year.

In 2024, Clare won both the league and All-Ireland and in past years, Limerick and Kilkenny before them had no problem with successfully combining the two.

Last season, Cork took the league title for the first time in 27 years, won Munster and reached the All-Ireland final.

The old story of success in one competition breeding success in another is more of the norm now than it might once have been. The field for the hurling league, Division 1A is most certainly is ultra-competitive.

Maybe even more so for Cork this time because of the fact that three of what might be viewed as potentially their hardest games are all on away soil, Galway, Limerick and Kilkenny.

And for the management that might be a blessing in disguise, getting to look at whatever new players they might be introducing in a more difficult environment than it would be playing at home.

With the championship season concluding much earlier in July as against September in the past and no intercounty activity for months the appetite among supporters is maybe much greater too.

Some of the games in the Munster League generated fine attendance levels and the expectation is that the national league games will attract substantial interest.

LOGICAL

There's a double-header in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh next Sunday, the Cork footballers taking on Cavan followed by the game against Peter Queally's Waterford.

Hurling followers might have preferred their game going on first but this time we won't be seeing a mass exodus when the football was the curtain-raiser. So, like it or not, the schedule this time makes more sense.

Whatever about the make-up of the Cork hurling team, Waterford are certain to be without some key players with the Ballygunner contingent unlikely to be seen for a few weeks.

Waterford boss Queally got three games in the Munster League, group assignments against Tipperary and Kerry and last Saturday's final against Limerick.

There was no shortage of newcomers in those games and particularly against Tipperary, the management will have been pleased to force a draw after being well in arrears entering the final 10 minutes.

Again, against an equally experimental Tipp side, nothing to get overly excited about but that sort of character is something that will be looked for over the coming weeks.

There will be a bit of added interest in this Cork and Waterford encounter insofar as the Waterford coach is now Donal O'Rourke, who filled a similar position with the Rebel County last season.

On home turf and Waterford without their Ballygunner players, Cork will be the more fancied of the two sides and the home support will want to see Ben O'Connor get off to a winning start to his managerial reign.

However, so early in the season, there won't be any great certainty surrounding any of the six Division 1A games that the seven participants will be involved.

And it must also be factored in that most counties are still heavily involved in their training blocks and management teams will be continuing to look at players with a view to the far more championship assignments.

Player rotation is likely to be the approach over the course of the campaign and, of course, the primary objective is developing bench strength. A team never wins a major trophy, the depth of your squad is the backbone of it and how that depth is utilised.

Time catches up with all players and it's how that ageing process is dealt with, introducing that type of player at the appropriate time in a game.

Tipperary's effectiveness at how that was handled last season was illustrated with the arrival of Noel McGrath onto the field of play and the vast contribution that he made in their All-Ireland triumph.

HECTIC

The national hurling league poses a lot of questions for a team management, six games in a relatively short space of time is a heavy workload that must be managed properly.

The one thing that has to be prioitised is that the balance is right. We know that from next Sunday to the end of the group stage of the provincial championship, Cork hurlers will play 10 games, at least.

If the knockout stage of both competitions are reached that number will increase before the All-Ireland series begins.

And, as we have stated many times, that makes the depth of your squad so vital.

Long gone are the days when players were included to make up numbers and the chances of getting game time were almost zero. Now the impact from the bench has never been more important and that applies from one to 15.