Cork are out of the Allianz Hurling League; this defeat for Kieran Kingston's side and Tipperary's victory over Waterford meaning the Rebels cannot progress to the knockout stages.

How fine are the margins, exactly?

Our writers look ahead to the major talking points ahead of the weekend's Allianz League action.

Galway hurling manager Shane O’Neill has received a boost with Joe Canning set to be available for next Sunday’s clash with Tipperary in Salthill.

Galway hurlers are likely to be boosted by the return of Daithí and David Burke in time for their NHL clash with All-Ireland champions Tipperary next week, but Shane O’Neill is planning without the services of Joseph Cooney and John Hanbury for the foreseeable future.

Defending champions Limerick’s “in it to win it” approach under John Kiely again manifested itself as they extended their winning League run to six games going back to last season.

A “big culture shock” is how Galway’s Conor Whelan describes their June 15 exit from the 2019 hurling championship.

This was a canter for Galway as Shane O’Neill picked up a convincing victory in his first National League game as manager, although playing against Westmeath’s 14 men for all of the second half softened his side’s route to victory at Pearse Stadium.

Kilkenny full-back Huw Lawlor wants to see his side get their NHL campaign off to a winning start against Dublin this weekend.

The boys of Wexford just love being drama queens. An innocuous Walsh Cup final between two understrength sides on a winter’s afternoon seemed to be heading west, with Shane O’Neill poised to collect his first silverware since taking charge of the Tribesmen.

John Fogarty previews the weekend's GAA fixtures.

“You just can’t beat games.”

St Thomas’s Kenneth Burke has predicted his cousin Fintan Burke will be the next family member to break into the Galway set-up after his recovery from a knee injury.

New Galway hurling manager Shane O’Neill has added Fergal Healy to his management team as they step up their preparations for the new season.

Former Galway hurler David Forde has joined new manager Shane O’Neill’s backroom team — as a selector.

The Clare senior footballers will be without their two All-Star nominees next season as captain Gary Brennan has joined Jamie Malone in opting out of the squad.

New Galway hurling manager Shane O’Neill will meet the players for the first time this evening and says everyone will be starting with a clean slate.

Former Cork captain Shane O’Neill believes the proposed minor hurling management team of Dónal Óg Cusack, Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, and Tom Kelly can only inspire the players in 2020.

A Kilmichael man, with the last year of his three-year jail term suspended for dragging a teenage girl into a building and assaulting her, had that last year activated yesterday for becoming aggressive with the probation service.

An island off Cork has launched a bid to become one of the world’s few officially-recognised dark sky sites - areas dedicated to stargazing.

A pulsating Cork PIFC opening round tie went right to the wire before Bantry Blues edged St Vincent’s at Enniskeane last Saturday evening.

An injury-time point from Pa Cronin secured victory for Bishopstown in this hugely entertaining Cork SHC first-round clash.

Galway’s six-time All-Ireland minor hurling manager Mattie Murphy believes Croke Park have to take their share of the blame for the financial controversy that has rocked the county.

A lot of folk talk about putting their bodies on the line for their teams. Paul Broderick went and did it, time and again, over the course of a decade and more that delivered little in the way of silver or spotlight.

I came in for a bit of criticism during the week about Offaly football matters, which I’ll come back to shortly, but I’m never going to shy away from calling it like I see it. At referees seminars, I would have been known for speaking my mind, whether I was right or wrong, and it’s an attitude I’ll be sticking to here, writes Brian Gavin.

It’s been six years since Bishopstown reached the Cork SHC final, when they fell just short against a strong Sarsfields team.

The winners of this year’s Sydney Irish Festival hurling game between Galway and the Allianz Division 1 winners will earn a second trip to Australia in two years’ time.

CUALA (Dublin) 2-17 NA PIARSAIGH (Limerick) 1-17: Cuala captain Paul Schutte reckons the south Dubliners deserve to be classed among club hurling’s greats after joining an elite group by capturing back-to-back AIB All-Ireland titles.

The GAA’s new referees development chairman Willie Barrett believes the number of team officials on sidelines can be reduced after a spate of suspensions for managers and selectors.

NA PIARSAIGH (Limerick) 2-19 - CUALA (Dublin) 1-22 (after extra time): Two things you don’t often see at Croke Park; snow on St Patrick’s Day and Con O’Callaghan wasting chances for scores.

Na Piarsaigh face Cuala in today’s All-Ireland club hurling final, and Shane O’Neill, manager of the Limerick champions, still finds his club’s status difficult to conjure with.

Kevin Downes still smiles at the memory of Sean Stack’s first night training the Na Piarsaigh hurlers in early 2009.

A man claimed he was concerned about a suspicious white van in Macroom and this was why he grabbed a 16-year-old girl and dragged her into a building.

The memories came flooding back to me in Thurles yesterday from all angles. It was almost 20 years to the day since we, Clarecastle, won our only Munster title in 1997. We had beaten Ballygunner in the semi-final. There was a Limerick team in the final again yesterday, just like there had been when we met Patrickswell.

The scramble for national honours, a second All-Ireland title, will begin again after Christmas but suffice to say for now that Na Piarsaigh’s status as one of the finest Munster club hurling teams of all time is well and truly secured.

Given the wealth of underage successes the club has enjoyed in recent years, the turnover in the Na Piarsaigh team shouldn’t come as a surprise.

“The record is not something we have brought up or even discussed,” said Na Piarsaigh manager Shane O’Neil after their Munster semi-final win over Blackrock.

Na Piarsaigh talisman Shane Dowling has been ruled out of their Munster club semi-final against Blackrock this Sunday.

This was a convincing return to fortunes for Na Piarsaigh whose fourth senior county title never really looked in doubt in the Gaelic Grounds.