John Horgan on hurling: Cork have no shortage of options but key areas must be nailed down

The league campaign is drawing to a close, just two more weekends to go before the head turns in the direction of the two provincial championships.

Tipperary and Waterford have the stage to themselves on Sunday as they play their postponed Division 1A game from last weekend with the Premier County still in with an outside chance of reaching the final.

However, the greater likelihood is that the final will be contested by Cork against Limerick or Galway, that game effectively a semi-final the weekend after next.

Where the league is concerned and the two counties contesting the final, there is always speculation that if there is a championship encounter between them a short while later, they might prefer a different scenario, avoiding that league final because of the impact it could have in the far more important championship assignment.

If it’s a Cork and Limerick final, they’ll be coming together again very shortly at the Round-Robin stage of the provincial campaign and the talk then would be that they might not to give their full attention to that league final.

That is a load of nonsense and whatever transpires in one game is probably unlikely to have any real relevance thereafter.

One would think that if it is Cork and Limerick, both will be trying their utmost to put one over the other in front of what would be a championship attendance.

Of course, we might be jumping the gun with that conversation because Galway are still very much in the equation for a final spot and their scintillating display last Saturday in demolishing Kilkenny to the tune of 18 points. Yes, a Kilkenny hurling team was beaten by that margin, one of their heaviest defeats in either league or championship in their illustrious history.

WOUNDED

Hurling is a religion in Kilkenny, more so than in any other county because the big ball game in the county hardly exists.

Therefore, that almerciful trouncing by Galway will have cut very deeply on Noreside, it would be a similar story in any of the other major hurling counties.

In all aspects of the game, Kilkenny were beaten all over the field in Pearse Stadium and despite the few notable absentees that Derek Lyng is trying to cope without, the result definitely sent out shock waves throughout the hurling world.

In the past, Kilkenny had no bother in going full throttle in both the league and championship because of the depth of their panel when Brian Cody was at the helm but that depth no longer exists, both Cork and Limerick now well ahead in that regard.

Kilkenny are well out of the league equation now and there must be great concern that their chances of adding another Leinster title to the six in a row already stored away is going to be an extremely difficult proposition.

The two counties will be colliding again in the championship at the same venue in a few weeks and there is now going to be added interest in that encounter, a Kilkenny backlash if that is possible with the current crop.

One way or the other, it puts a far different complexion on the Leinster campaign this season, a campaign perceived to be miles off the intensity of its Munster counterpart.

Kilkenny may not be having it all their own way this time. In fact, emerging from it may not be the certainty it always has been.

Then again, a wounded Kilkenny might be the most dangerous of all.

In Division 1B we have been keeping an eye on Clare’s progress and their runaway gallop to the final.

The fact that any of the other four Munster counties will not have encountered them in the secondary competition this season makes them a bit of an unknown quantity for now.

They’ll be coming to SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in the Munster campaign and at this point in time they are pereceived be behind Cork, Limerick and Tipperary in the pecking order to be one of the three that will emerge from the province into the All-Ireland series.

They sent out a side last Sunday against Wexford minus the likes of Tony Kelly, Shane O’Donnell, among others, and still got the job done with a few newcomers who made a strong claim for themselves.

They won’t be meeting any of their Munster opponents in the Division 1B final and will certainly want to keep their winning sequence alive.

They had a disastrous 2025 but a year earlier, they were the best team in the country and we should be mindful of that.

Clare may well be a different kettle of fish this time and Brian Lohan will relish the fact that they are not expected to be in the top three in Munster.

For those of us who keep an eye on what’s happening in all the counties, the story of Kildare in division IB continues to engage us.

No, they’ll never be a major hurling county, won’t win a provincial title or anything like that but the county’s input into the hurling world must be admired.

This current bunch of players under former Kilkenny star, Brian Dowling have retained their place in 1B with a game to spare and mathematically they have an outside chance of reacing the final.

Probably unlikely but for the game of hurling in general, their upward trajectory can only be of benefit even if the old order is near impossible to change.

Cork are away in a warm weather training camp before Offaly arrive on Leeside for the final group game and that provides all concerned with an opportunity to reflect on the happenings thus far. And in a nutshell the positives have far outweighed the negatives.

In a league campaign, any year four wins from five, and with respect to Offaly that should be five from six next weekend, is damn good going when the emphasis can be on experimentation quite a bit.

OPTIONS

Ben O’Connor’s management cannot be accused of not looking at enough players over the course of the campaign. He has presented quite a lot of new faces with the opportunity of making a case for themselves and a few of them have shown up well.

They have been without certain championship starters in most games, players have been given different roles on the team, being looked at in different positions.

There is great depth to the squad and competition for places in the match day 26, not to mind the first 15 has never been so intense.

This column can never remember it so.

The priority now is getting the formula spot on, the spine of the team in particular, who will be full-back, who will be centre-back, and midfield?

In attack, the form of Killeagh young gun, Barry Walsh has been very encouraging in his two outings and the scores that he delivered against Kilkenny and Limerick was a portent of what he is capable of.

The selection debates in advance of the championship should be very interesting.