National Hurling League: Everyone’s scrambling for points already

Tonight in Páirc Uí Rinn could be a tinderbox, with both Cork and Clare under serious pressure for the simple reason that whoever loses is staring a relegation final in the face. 

Defeat will always wreck your head but when you lose your first game in a league as unforgiving as this one, it can attack your confidence like a free taker missing a tap over point in the first minute of a crucial game.

Driving home to Clare after Dublin got hammered in the opening league game last year the 60-odd miles home from Galway seemed to pass like a blur.