Anthony Daly: Fine-tuning and future-proofing the name of the game for most

We’re at the stage of the season now where the league is, I won’t say irrelevant, but it’s certainly losing its value and importance with the championship coming so soon. Certain teams will crave a league title but the semi-final nearly looks a more appealing match than the final because you can go all out in that game, whereas managers might not want to risk some players two weeks out from their first championship match.

"Liam Cahill's Waterford look to have the strongest panel in the country now, even if that doesn’t necessarily mean you have the best team. But it’s certainly a huge asset with the round robin looming and all the pitfalls associated with that format."

On my way out of Parnell Park after the Dublin-Kilkenny game two weeks ago, I had my baseball hat pulled down over my eyes while my mask was further concealing my face, but a couple of Dublin fellas still recognised me heading down the Malahide Road. ‘Same old storeee, Anto,’ one of them said to me.

As a former Dublin manager, I know all about those no-shows because I was involved in so many of them. We tried so hard to eradicate those kinks from the system, but that kind of laissez-faire attitude that has been hardwired into the Dublin hurling mindset for so long just short-circuited again when Kilkenny applied the pressure.