Watching brief for Rebels as hurling league resumes

They play in red and white, they’ve gone more than 20 years without winning the big one but have gone close in recent time.

They used to be sponsored by O2 – and whatever happens this weekend, they’ll still almost certainly be top of the table on Sunday night.

But enough about Arsenal Football Club; we were going to labour the point and talk about the former captain now in charge whose media utterances tends to draw attention, however if felt like that was going too far.

While there is a growing anxiety about Gunners supporters that this might once again not be their season - all the more so after recent disappointing draws - Cork fans are still in a fairly low-intensity enjoyment as, lest we forget, league is league and championship is championship.

Last weekend, Cork and the rest of the teams in the Allianz Hurling League had a break after the three consecutive rounds of fixtures to open the competition – while the Rebels are again on the sidelines this time round, everyone else in Division 1A is back in action.

Since the switch to five seven-team divisions for 2025, there are three games in each round meaning one county has a bye and it just so happens that Cork’s turn to sit it out comes straight after the universal break.

However, given that they gone into the lay-off with a maximum six points from three games after beating Waterford, Galway and Tipperary – the All-Ireland champions had been the only other county with two wins from two in the top flight – Ben O’Connor’s side have a cushion as they take up an observatory station for round four.

There is a chance that Cork could be overtaken at the top, but that would require Tipperary and Waterford to both win their matches, and then one of them by enough to go to the summit on scoring difference; either Tipp by nine points or the Déise by 28.

Waterford are away to Kilkenny – the Cats will be at home again in their next game, with Cork travelling to UPMC Nowlan Park when they return to action on Sunday, March 1 – so a victory of that margin can essentially be ruled out. While Tipp could win by nine points in Thurles on Saturday night, if they do it would cause a lot of hurling people to sit up and take notice as their opponents at FBD Semple Stadium are Limerick.

It’s difficult to predict what kind of game will materialise – Cork-Tipp had the dust-up but beyond that it was still a few notches below championship.

A fortnight on and mid-April is a little bit closer on the horizon – not enough to generate blood and thunder in Thurles but one imagines that John Kiely’s side will want to lay down a marker against the All-Ireland champions given that the Munster championship is likely to be such a bearpit this year.

If Tipp were to win and move to six points after four games, it would all but rule Limerick out of reaching the league final – and leave them with a bit of a job to do to alleviate any relegation worries, however remote that possibility may be.

Currently, the bottom two spots are occupied by Galway and Offaly, both without a point after two and three games respectively, but their clash in Birr on Sunday does at least offer the opportunity to get off the mark.

Galway will be strong favourites to get the win – while they lost away to Tipp and at home to Cork, their scoring difference is just minus-seven, showing that both games were close, whereas Offaly’s -27 figure at this stage would be hard to erode substantially even if a couple of wins brought them level with others by the end of the six games.

After their disappointing loss at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in the opening round, Waterford have bounced back impressively with wins over Limerick and then Offaly and if they were to continue the upward momentum away to Kilkenny, a league final would be a viable possibility.

Against that, a Cats victory on home turf would serve to tighten the pack below Cork – and leave things finely poised for the following weekend.