They started without over half of their All-Ireland winning team but victory still came easily for Tipperary at Croke Park where they streaked to a 16-point opening round Allianz Hurling League win.

Ger Cunningham wouldn’t mind having more of his panel available to him against Wexford on Saturday but he agrees it feels more like his team this year.

Galway 50 Dublin 47: A second quarter flashpoint enlivened the AIG Fenway Hurling Classic between Dublin and Galway in Boston, the sin bin filling up after a major skirmish in front of the Dublin goal.

Denis Bastick has won All-Irelands, Leinster titles and Allianz Leagues in his decade with Dublin, but the midfielder hasn’t forgotten the low of 2009 when a season’s stint at full-back triggered a cascade of criticism in the wake of their quarter-final defeat to Kerry.

All summer we’ve been waiting for this championship to fire. It had been damp. Lifeless even. Nobody could manage to generate the faintest spark.

Waterford 2-21 Dublin 1-19: An unstinting work-rate complimented by the occasional passage of sweeping brilliance.

James Owens improved his chances of refereeing his first senior All-Ireland hurling final with an impressive handling of the Galway-Cork All-Ireland quarter-final yesterday.

When I stepped down from Dublin last September, I was barely back down the M7 when some people already thought I had relocated to Galway. 

Former Dublin manager Anthony Daly has rejected criticism of his former players as being "manufactured hurlers" as well as Ger Loughnane’s and Donal Óg Cusack’s stance on the dual player dilemma.

Ironically, one Cork goalkeeping legend may have pointed out the biggest problem facing another in Dublin.

Former Cork selector Ger Cunningham was last night appointed as Anthony Daly’s successor as Dublin manager, being handed a three-year term.

In the three years Kilkenny and Tipperary have contested All-Ireland finals since 2009, they have collected an impressive 33 out of 45 All Stars.

ALL-IRELAND SHC QUARTER-FINAL:

Dublin corner-back Paul Schutte has emerged as a major doubt for the county’s All-Ireland quarter-final on Sunday.

Anthony Daly says Danny Sutcliffe will be given every chance at training this evening to prove his fitness for Sunday’s Leinster final.

There’s a lot of comparisons being drawn between this Clare team and the Banner team of the nineties. That’s unfair, on both sides.

This weekend offers Wexford a chance to stake a claim at the top table of hurling with a win over reigning Leinster champions Dublin after years in the wilderness.

Dublin hurling captain Johnny McCaffrey is confident the reigning Leinster champions will not be hindered by an 11-week lay-off ahead of their provincial opener against Wexford on Saturday night.

Waterford 1-17 Dublin 4-13

Tipperary 3-25 Cork 4-19

Waterford 1-17 Dublin 4-13

Tipperary 1-19 Dublin 0-19

Tipperary 1-19 Dublin 0-19

Waterford 1-13 Dublin 1-10

WATERFORD 1-13 DUBLIN 1-10

Leinster 1-23 Connacht 0-16

Dublin 2-17 Clare 0-17

Dublin manager Anthony Daly is thankful that his troops only have a week to wait to get yesterday's drubbing by Galway out of their system.

Wexford 1-14 Dublin 1-15

Mount Leinster Rangers 1-17 Ballyboden St Enda’s 3-9

Carlow's Mount Leinster Rangers and Oulart the Ballagh of Wexford will meet in the AIB Leinster Club SHC Final, while Sixmilebridge advanced to the Munster decider against Na Piarsaigh of Limerick, following today's action.

Eight members of Clare's 2013 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship title-winning team have won places on the 2013 GAA/GPA All-Stars Hurling team, it has been confirmed.

Clare have crowned their All-Ireland title with an impressive haul of eight All Stars - three backs and a trio of forwards as well as the two midfielders.

All-Ireland champions Clare make up over half of the 2013 GAA-GPA All Star team sponsored by Opel with eight selections compared to runners-up Cork’s three.

Clare selector Mike Deegan “cannot understand” why defenders Cian Dillon and Patrick O’Connor have been excluded from the list of nominations for the GAA/GPA hurling All Stars.

The All star nominee list has been unveiled and it is no surprise that Davy Fitzgerald's side have been rewarded for their astonishing 2013 performance.

Wondering why Championship 2013 has been this strange, goal-free wilderness?

The post mortem will inevitably last weeks but, eventually, John McCaffrey expects Dublin to begin their preparations for 2014 with an unchanged panel and, crucially, with the same management team.

Something profound happened in the fourth minute at Croke Park on Sunday.

Former Cork full-back Diarmuid O’Sullivan has slammed the refereeing of hurling matches this summer, claiming GAA chiefs are ruining the game by attempting to make it a non-contact sport.

This game turned on a few events. Dublin centre forward Ryan O’Dwyer, who was having a big influence on the game at the time, picked up a second yellow card with 20 minutes left at a time when the Metropolitans were a point to the good. For the record, the first card was harsh. Anthony Nash sent the free over the bar to level proceedings.

Tradition packed its nasty wallop into Croke Park yesterday, to paraphrase the great AJ Leibling.

I thought James Owens had a fine game in Croke Park yesterday, an almost flawless performance. But, crucially, he made two mistakes and, unfortunately, they were two big ones.