Alan Connolly leads Cork's scoring charge after opening rounds

Every side competing for this year’s All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship title have played two games each so far – with the exception of Clare and Limerick – who received their Munster round robin byes early.

The pair will meet this weekend for the first of the staggered round three games in the Munster championship, and will ensure parity in games played across both provinces.

And so, with only one match down so far, it’s unsurprising to see that Limerick have no players represented in the combined top 10 scorers – either overall or from play – while Clare have just one, Mark Rodgers in tenth, with all 11 of his points against Waterford from placed balls.

But it’s the man who has got everyone talking after two rounds – Stephen Bennett – that leads the scoring charts overall with 4-22 from the first two games. And yet, despite his haul, Waterford haven’t managed a win in either.

Behind him in second is Kilkenny great TJ Reid, who, after burying a goal late on and a point from an 80th minute free during their rout of Wexford last weekend, surpassed Patrick Horgan as the all-time senior hurling championship top scorer with 41-657.

One of the few players still active on the all-time top 10 to challenge Reid is Lee Chin, and he’s third overall in the scoring charts. The Wexford man was excellent in their first round win over Kildare, though struggled to make the same impact when he was stationed at full-forward against Kilkenny.

Kildare’s Jack Sheridan is fourth with a total of 2-15. Although, bizarrely, he’s got the highest from play with 2-6, despite being with the only team without a championship point from two games played.

Offaly’s Adam Screeney is fifth in the overall chart with 1-17, with Dublin’s Donal Burke sixth on 0-18, ahead of Cork’s Alan Connolly who has 1-15.

Behind Sheridan in from play scoring is of course Bennett with 3-2, while Galway’s Rory Burke and Kilkenny’s Mossy Keoghan have managed 2-4 each from play.

There are three Cork reps in the from-play scoring, Shane Barrett is the highest of the three with 1-6 after the 1-2 he grabbed against Limerick, which leaves him fifth in the table.

William Buckley and Darragh Fitzgibbon have tallied 0-7 apiece, and sit joint eighth alongside Kilkenny’s Cian Kenny and Offaly’s Charlie Mitchell. Besides Limerick – who have only played one game – Tipperary are the only other team to not have any representatives in either top 10.

Combined top 10 scorers in Leinster and Munster Hurling Championships:

1 Stephen Bennett (Waterford) 4-22 (1-0 pen, 0-19 f, 0-1 65) 

2 TJ Reid (Kilkenny) 2-16 (1-0 pen, 0-13 f, 0-2 65) 

3 Lee Chin (Wexford) 1-18 (0-14 f, 0-1 65) 

4 Jack Sheridan (Kildare) 2-15 (0-9 f) 

5 Adam Screeney (Offaly) 1-17 (0-13 f, 0-1 65) 

6 Donal Burke (Dublin) 0-18 (0-14 f) 

7 Alan Connolly (Cork) 1-15 (0-12 f) 

8 Aaron Niland (Galway) 0-17 (0-13 f) 

9 Rory Burke (Galway) 3-4 (1-0 pen) 

10 Mark Rodgers (Clare) 0-11 (0-10 f, 0-1 65) 

Combined top 10 scorers from play:

1 Jack Sheridan (Kildare) 2-6 

2 Stephen Bennett (Waterford) 3-2 

3 Rory Burke (Galway) 2-4 

3 Mossy Keoghan (Kilkenny) 2-4 

5 Conor Donohoe (Dublin) 1-6 

5 Shane Barrett (Cork) 1-6 

7 Fergal Whitely (Dublin) 2-2 

8 Darragh Fitzgibbon (Cork) 0-7 

8 William Buckley (Cork) 0-7 

8 Cian Kenny (Kilkenny) 1-4 

8 Charlie Mitchell (Offaly) 1-4