John Horgan on what Cork hurlers must bring to Galway clash in Salthill

The probability is that for the remaining five games of the group stage of the league, things will not be as straightforward again for Cork as they were against Waterford last Sunday.

The schedule certainly suggests that's going to be the case, three away trips, starting in Salthill on Saturday night against Galway, with Gaelic Grounds and Nowlan Park on the itinerary as well.

Last season's best team in the country, Tipperary, will arrive in town next Saturday week with an Offaly team that gave a decent account of themselves in their opener against Liam Cahill's team in the mix as well, the expectation is that much more testing assignments await.

Some have labelled this league campaign as a healing process for Cork in the aftermath of last July's meltdown in Croke Park and maybe the soft early landing that the team had last Sunday was the perfect way to begin that process. But the certainty is that Ben O'Connor will want much stiffer questions to be posed for his players going forward, being tested to a far greater extent than they were against a depleted Waterford team.

He may or may not be prioritising the secondary competition, going hell for leather in trying to retain it. He will want some very competitive 70 minutes of hurling, a greater examination in the physicality stakes and a reaction when the opposition gains the upper hand.

Galway should be a more searching test, games in Salthill usually are. 

Micheál O'Donoghue will want to build on a positive enough performance against Tipperary in the worst conditions imaginable in Thurles. The Galway boss had to be encouraged by how his players performed for the best part of that game, quite a number of rookies.

It wasn't until the home stretch was entered that a strong enough Tipp side became the more assertive side when Darragh Stakelum clung a fine goal and Jake Morris added to his very impressive tally of eight points and illustrating how crucial a player he has become to his county's cause.

To have mounted such a hefty challenge for such a long period in the game will surely be a source of great encouragement to the supporters of the Western county and to have done so on a night when you wouldn't have put a dog or a cat out.

One of the young Galway players that caught the eye was Jason Rabbitte, whose size and physical presence could ask a few questions of the Cork full-back trio. And the glove that he wore reminded us of the player his father Joe was in a time long past. Another Galway young gun who was very conspicuous with an impressive scoring haul of 1-3 was Rory Burke.

Getting the blend and the balance right is a priority for every inter-county manager, that mix of experience and youthful energy that can carry a team a good distance from the early days of a league campaign to the far greater demands of the championship.

The general consensus in the aftermath of Cork's opening day victory was that some of the players that there was more focus on, debutants and those with very little senior intercounty experience did themselves justice and more.

Daire O'Leary was an assertive figure at full-back, who has the physical presence to create a further option in the number three jersey.

Brian Roche might only have delivered a single point but does quite a lot of unseen work and the manner he won the penalty was impressive.

Maybe some were surprised that the Cork starting 15 contained just the one debutant, Willie Buckley from the Barrs but what a debut he had.

Scoring 1-4 from open play against any inter-county opponents has to be looked at in a very positive light and if ever an early marker needed to be planted this fellow certainly came up trumps.

Yes, he will face far more formidable defenders going forward but his Player of the Match accolade was richly deserved.

PROMISING

Not too many hurling followers had great knowledge of Hugh O'Connor from Newmarket. He's much better known as a footballer but his 20-plus minutes on the pitch won't have gone unnoticed and his point was well executed.

Diarmuid Healy rifled over a quartet of points, damn good going any day of the week and he'll nail down his place in the starting 15 from here.

Four of the five Munster counties were in action last week and Limerick will enter the fray on Sunday against Waterford and that is a game to keep a strong eye on, have an early look at a Limerick team who many, quite rightly, believe have not gone away.

Tipperary signalled some early intent in their victory over Galway and whilst the men from the West asked plenty of questions, the new-found confidence that is now running through this Tipp squad made the difference in the final plays of the game.

Over 20,000 were in attendance for the Cork and Waterford game but for the visit of the Premier County next Saturday night week expect at least 10,000 more to be added. Right now, no other county can come anywhere near the support levels that this Cork team is generating.

Outside of the Cork and Waterford tie last Sunday, the second biggest attendance was in Cusack Park for Clare and Dublin.

Even though it was only the opening game of the Division 1B campaign, it was effectively a promotion decider. And after their travails of 2025, disastrous as it was, Brian Lohan's men are back up and running and some notice should be taken of that as early and all as it is.

Clare, who will be visitors to Leeside in May, were taken to the wire by the team that ousted Limeick from the championship last season and to emerge with the points must have pleased Lohan.

He sent out a strong team in search of an early boost and it was a number of the old guard who delivered, none more so than Tony Kelly, one of the country's finest hurlers of the last dozen plus years. His late goal sealed the deal as the Banner began their own healing process.

There is still very much a hard core of experienced personnel in this Clare set-up to be very wary of them when it's championship time and maybe they have not gone away either.

It's far too early to be talking of the Munster championship, of course, but the earliest of signs suggest that it may well surpass all that has gone before it in the last number of years. And whatever transpires in the league over the next number of weeks and months will quickly become a footnote when the Munster voyage begins.

But here on Leeside, it's Galway that will capture our interest this weekend.

Expect the assignment to be far more difficult than it was last Sunday.