A poor final, a poor championship.

That was, without doubt, the worst weekend of hurling in a very, very long time.

I have given the Cork team and management the benefit of the doubt over the past three years, a point I was reminded of by an old Waterford friend departing Semple Stadium on Sunday evening.

Hurling coaches are choking the game to death. What materialised inside the whitewash at Thurles on Sunday reaffirmed my concerns for the game. 

Tony Considine looks at the questions that needanswering in the Allianz Hurling League.

THE GAA-GPA All Stars have become elitist and does not recognise the contribution of hurlers who fail to reach the All-Ireland semi-final stage.

The famine is over.

And so we arrive at the replay fixture — at long, long last.

They haven’t gone away, you know. Clare’s exit from the senior championship may have been premature, but the county’s younger band of hurlers did not lie down after that disappointment and ended the year in spectacular fashion on Saturday night. 

Is there a Bubbles O’Dwyer or Richie Hogan among the 30 young men to march behind the band this evening?