Walsh to stay on his toes in early rounds

THE favourites’ mantle is not one that has ever sat well with the footballers of Cork. While the county’s hurlers would have accepted it as their birthright, it tended to cause the big ball men acute discomfort.

The landscape has changed over recent years though. The hurlers don’t go into the big games as top dogs anymore, while the footballers are All-Ireland champions and, on this year’s evidence, are coping very well with the pressure that title brings.

The league campaign ended successfully with the retention of Division One honours in dramatic fashion, overturning an eight-point second-half deficit against Dublin.