Ten years ought to constitute a sufficient sample size for undertakings such as these and in the present instance it does. It was not a difficult team to pick, nor should it have been.

Refereeing Kilkenny-Tipperary Championship games this decade were like walking on a cliff edge.

Who’s it going to be then, eh?

When Paddy Stapleton’s family were confronted with a crisis last autumn, he found he could call on old teammates — and some old adversaries — for support.

A couple of months off turning 32, TJ Reid may privately accept winning three more All-Ireland medals to catch Henry Shefflin’s record of 10 isn’t going to happen.

What does the number on your back even mean any more in hurling? Michael Moynihan rooted through the bag of jerseys and asked how the job spec for each position has changed

Following their victory over Clare in the league last Saturday week, people queried Cork’s reliance on Patrick Horgan for scores.

The player

A new era will dawn this Saturday in Páirc Sheamuis Stiopháin when Ballyhale Shamrocks play their first game — a Senior Hurling League fixture away to Erin’s Own — under the management of Henry Shefflin.

At a time when inter-county players are increasingly turning towards teaching to sustain their sporting careers, perhaps Andy Moran and TJ Reid are the ones who’ve cracked it.

Under the Hogan Stand, TJ Reid stopped to chat. After scoring 2-2, it didn’t appear it would be a difficult request, and so it turned out, but his demeanour wasn’t one of delight but righteous indignation.

Brendan Maher may have handed over the Tipperary captaincy to Pádraic Maher last year but if the 2016 All-Ireland winning skipper gives the pre-match speech on Sunday it won’t come as any surprise.

Former Kilkenny captain Eoin Larkin said it’s natural that some pundits want to believe the county are hitting a fallow period but warned Brian Cody has other ideas.

Ballyhale Shamrocks showed a never-say-die spirit to fight their way to a share of the points against Danesfort in the Kilkenny senior hurling league on Saturday.

Dan Shanahan makes no bones about it: “Semi-finals are about winning; if it’s eight points to seven with 10 sweepers, we’ll take it.”

Two villages, both alike in dignity? Cork and Kilkenny both need a win in their Allianz Hurling League meeting tomorrow. Badly.

Brian Cody would have no problem acceding to Galway’s wishes to enter into home and away agreements in the Leinster senior hurling championship and their minor and U21 teams to be incorporated into the province.

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

“It feels like I can fly…” So Jackie Tyrrell tweeted after Kilkenny won the 2011 Senior Final. 

They’re hurting now but Brian Cody has insisted Kilkenny will rise again with the help of several “top players” who the general public know little about.

The joy of proving wrong those people who said Tipperary couldn’t match Kilkenny’s intensity was huge, according to Cathal Barrett.

Tipperary 2-29 Kilkenny 2-20: Just how “bloody arrogant” can you get? On the Irish Examiner podcast this past week, former Offaly hurler Daithí Regan mentioned how Tipperary aren’t lacking in the confidence department. After being under Kilkenny’s thumb these last five seasons, they had been given every reason to keep their optimism in check but then they produce a meteoric performance like this and combust any sense of inferiority. Indian sign? What Indian sign?

Regime change? Tipperary’s emphatic victory over Kilkenny in yesterday’s All-Ireland senior hurling final certainly felt like an administration of long-standing yielding to new rulers.

Inside the white lines, Kilkenny do the simple things well. They no longer have the capabilities to blow inferior teams away, as they did in 2007/08. 

You may covet the silver Eoin Larkin possesses but you don’t want to see what he’s seen. Early in August, he acknowledged just how difficult he found it to get back up to speed — that is Kilkenny speed — after his six-month tour of duty with the Armed Forces in the Golan Heights.

Eoin Larkin admits he found it difficult to catch up with his Kilkenny preparations after returning from a tour of duty with the Defence Forces.

At this stage everyone knows what you get with Kilkenny. 

I saw an interview with Ken McGrath during the week where he expressed the hope Waterford would just go for it tomorrow against Kilkenny. 

Ten minutes into the second-half in Croke Park yesterday, there was a sense that there was something different about Galway this year.

Kilkenny 1-26 Galway 0-22: Death, taxes and strong second-half performances from Kilkenny, each as inevitable as the other and all utterly impossible to repel.

On the law of averages, Galway are due a win against Kilkenny tomorrow. Scrap that; on that law of averages Galway are overdue a win against Kilkenny tomorrow.

All the protagonists for this year’s All-Ireland have dipped their toes in the water at this stage.

Experienced Clare star Enda Coughlan has emerged as a late injury concern ahead of Sunday’s Munster SFC semi-final against Kerry at Fitzgerald Stadium — as manager Colm Collins vows the Banner will be competitive in Killarney.

With the county minor team in action on Saturday, it was a condensed Kilkenny senior hurling league programme this weekend.