Unfamiliar territory as Brian Cody doesn’t know his best team

While hurling qualifiers easily swerve into a labyrinth, that place of uncertainty and hesitations, Monday’s draw produced straight and narrow terrain, writes PM O’Sullivan.

There came immediate consensus about three of tomorrow’s ties: Dublin beating Laois, Tipperary beating Westmeath, Waterford beating Offaly. Formlines are stark, with the possible exception of Dublin, caught in a pronounced dip as regards both morale and personnel.

This dip intersecting with any upward arc generated by Laois, themselves understrength, remains doubtful. Dublin are straitened but surely not husked.