John Horgan: Cork can take different league approach in Ben O'Connor's second year

There was a time when league fixtures were played before Christmas with the latter rounds being completed in the new year.

Now everything in the secondary competition is played in the one calendar year and whilst there may be some grumbling about how short the inter-county season is now, that's the way it is.

There was a time too that winning the league was regarded in some way as being detrimental to your championship hopes, too much effort being into the league campaign, peaking too early in the season etc.

In latter years that theory has been well and truly blown out of the water, the opposite being the case now, a strong league innings can be the perfect launchpad for the provincial championship in the two hurling provinces.

Since John Kiely took the managerial reins in Limerick and Brian Cody before him during the glory years on Noreside, winning the league and All-Ireland championship has not been overly difficult.

In the current year, the men from Shannonside ended up with the big double again, not the first time they have done so under Kiely's reign.

Cork, unfortunately, have failed in that quest, league winners in 2025 but losing out to Tipperary in the Croke Park showpiece.

Cork went through to the final of the league this year again but came up second best to Limerick in the decider and subsequently had their season ended by Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Both competitions are a big ask now for all counties, so many games in a relatively short space of time.

Therefore it's imperative that you have the squad to cope with so many games when some top players are being sidelined along the way because of injury and suspensions.

There was widespread agreement that Ciaran Joyce's injury was a massive blow for Cork this year, a key defensive player in a key position being lost.

The schedule of games for the 2027 national hurling league campaign was recently released, all counties playing six group games at least, three on home soil, three away.

The format is right and it provides all management teams with the opportunity of looking at as many players as possible, all the more so at the newcomers who have been brought into their squads.

The NHL Division 1A campaign has potentially very difficult games to cope with and it could be stated that there are certainly going to be no what we might term, 'easy games'.

All counties will embark on the journey with the intention of being there or thereabouts as the final few group games are played out.

Some counties will prioritise the secondary competition more than others maybe but the over riding requirement will be to find a few newcomers that can subsequently challenge for inclusion on the much bigger championship days.

No matter how strong any county's squad may look there is always a need for embellishment, the dice continuing to roll at all times.

Box-office

The Cork schedule is certainly very attractive, opening with a trip to Thurles to face Tipperary being followed by a home fixture a week later against Henry Shefflin's Kilkenny.

A journey into the Banner County is next on the agenda, again another week later with a break of two weeks before Limerick arrive on Leeside.

Dublin, in Parnell Park, are the focus of attention another week after that game and then there's a three-week gap before the final group game against Galway at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Strong squad or not, that is an immensely demanding schedule with plenty of questions likely to be posed and answered.

Having reached the final in the past two seasons, it will be very interesting on the approach that will be taken by Ben O'Connor and his backroom team.

Everything during the league should be geared towards the provincial championship, a competition equally demanding and only the best survive.

Winning the league but subsequently failing to be in the top three in the province would render the season a failure where the leading counties are concerned.

Four years ago, Waterford won the league but failed to come out of Munster.

Maybe in a county starved of success over the years winning the league did mean something but everything is ultimately judged on how your county performs on the championship stage.

Since the round-robin format was introduced, Waterford have never progressed on to the All-Ireland seriese but in that great hurling county hope springs eternal.

The torch down there has now been passed to former great, Stephen Molumphy and he will want to change all that, initially from their Division 1B league base.

The national league must always be a preparatory process, preparing to be the best version of yourself in the championship. Whatever Cork squad is in place for the six games of the league every member of that panel should get game time even if that means making wholesale changes from one game to the next.

The reserve goalkeeper must get playing time, at least two full outings just to get him on to the inter-county experience ladder.

With Damien Cahalane now retired after a stellar career in both codes, Watergrasshill's Daire O'Leary should be looked at again in the number three shirt.

There's no guarantee with any player trying to force his way into the squad but it's a nothing-ventured, nothing-gained situation for the management.

As things currently stand and with the club championship season now concluded, the thinking has to be that the vast majority of last season's starting 15 will be on the block again come the Munster championship, just the one change in defence: Joyce coming in for Cahalane.

Settled

In attack, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Shane Barrett, William Buckley and Brian Hayes look nailed on certainties to start with Alan Connolly and Diarmuid Healy in pole position to be there again.

However, the league has to bring a few more names into the equation, whatever new blood being auditioned doing enough to ask questions of the management.

Simply put, Cork needs the players with the jerseys being challenged a lot more by those hoping to take it off them.

We had hoped to be in Páirc Uí Rinn or SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday for the Munster Club semi-final with Glen Rovers.

Unfortunately, that won't be the case now after the Cork champions' loss to Inagh-Kilnamona but that has not diluted our interest in the provincial competition and we have two potentially cracking semi-finals to look forward to on Sunday.

The main focus will be on the big Walsh Park clash between Ballygunner and Kilmallock while in Cusack Park, it's Thurles-Sars against Clare's best.

Those games provides us with an opportunity to compare and contrast the standard of the club game in the other four counties against our own.

The Clare champions were hugely impressive in defeating the Glen and they could well make it to the final. And don't be surprised if Kilmallock do a number on this great Ballygunner side.

Something to really look forward to.