It’s only February!

KILLINAN END

Assessing the general landscape of the hurling world at the end of February based on limited data from a few rounds of the National Hurling League might be a fool's errand.

At the very least it is worthy of significant caveats. As with the challenge match circuit you will always here that “they are missing x and y” with the implication that all will be well on the return of these players. Naturally there is something in this.

Despite much talk that it is now a squad game and that you need at least 20 players, most counties will probably have a strong conviction what their best 15 players might be. Of course, the question of when these 15 players are deployed simultaneously is quite another matter. Do you start them, or do you finish with them, or do you simply try to have them on the pitch at the same time for a substantial period of the match?

Many counties’ supporters will seek solace in the knowledge that they await the return of key players if the league is not going according to plan. Of course, without the slightest contradiction they may also lament the limitations, or apparent shortcomings of those called upon to fill those winter gaps when others are nursing injuries or being wrapped in cotton wool. It is indeed a complex and unreliable picture, but it does amount, one way or another, to a narrative that is far too enticing not to have a poke around.

In the case of Tipperary early indications are reasonably positive. Bear in mind that the team is coming from a position of low expectation and presumably has shattered confidence levels after the endurance test of last spring and summer. It has been pointed out that the Blue and Gold did well in last year’s hurling league before the disastrous outing in Portlaoise against Clare in the semi-final. The implied message here is that judgments must be deferred, and that the manager has some history in peaking teams inappropriately early.

The latter view tends to forget Waterford’s All-Ireland semi-final performance in 2020, and also the limited success Waterford had under other managers in those years around the Cahill regime. In that context a League Final win and an All-Ireland Final appearance is not the worst look.

To defend Tipp on the question of going off a cliff towards the end of last year’s League it is worth considering the nature of the county’s National League group last year. Division 1B opponents included Antrim, Westmeath, and Dublin, all of whom struggled and won only games against each other. Tipp beat Galway in Thurles and lost to Limerick by a point down in Cork in the more challenging games. The Galway the game was played in the second round of games in February.

All things considered, retrospect suggests that despite qualifying for the League semi-final, what had gone before was an unreliable indicator of form and potential. A year later February remains February, and it has to be acknowledged that the Galway team beaten by Tipp was almost certainly the weakest version we are likely to see this year. Yet there is little doubt that the current group in the League is far more challenging than last year.

There is plenty more evidence to be unfurled in the coming weeks but so far there is much from which to take, if not inspiration, then certainly some comfort that the county is heading in the right direction. That direction is the ability to be very competitive in Munster in late April, no more no less.

In that same context there will have been mild alarm bells across the Banner County at the performance against Wexford. No doubt there are players missing and the form of others will surely improve but as that county showed last year a decent run of form in the National League does no harm. Last year the county went seven games undefeated to win the League and suffered none of the allergic reaction that might have been assumed back in the Ger Loughnane era.

Perhaps in the condensed season drumming up a bit of form early on is more necessary. Could there be a vulnerability in the team which has a fair few players heading towards the veteran category? Is Clare’s qualification for the All-Ireland series an absolute given?

Turning to Cork it might seem sacrilegious to quibble since they are the anointed ones in the eyes of many pundits. But even in a February League game you wonder about signs of flakiness in the Cork team. Tipp demonstrated, not least to themselves, the difference pressurising and closing down players makes. Much of Cork’s pacey intricate game flourishes in an environment where they are allowed time and space.

When you see this ideal scenario disrupted it does invite questions about the inevitability of a Cork All- Ireland success. Plenty of water will flow under many a bridge between now and high summer, and it will be interesting to test these early impressions against the passage of time.