With this leadership, Cork look the real deal

After a very lukewarm League opener between Clare and Kilkenny at Semple Stadium yesterday, we expected things would come to the boil when Munster’s arch-rivals clashed in the second game.

However, the sparks only flew here after the interval as Cork and Tipp served up a very pedestrian first-half.

What stood out for me in both these games was the number of back-passes. At times I wondered if I had wandered into a soccer match. Tipperary especially were at it — what’s wrong with just driving a well-directed ball long at times? Especially when you have big powerful forwards up front, as Tipperary had in Brian O’Meara and John O’Brien.