March mocks: Who is top of the hurling class?
Top of the class by a distance and would have full marks but for coming up slightly short against Kilkenny a fortnight ago.
As has been widely remarked, that was a better outcome for the All-Ireland champions with the long term in mind than a victory would have been; it allowed at least some of the air to escape the balloon, and Michael Ryan is more aware than any man alive that Tipperary are always at their most vulnerable when the eve of championship balloon is full.
Their forward line certainly carried more threat of dynamite than Kilkenny’s did, although the way the visitors fought back from early arrears underlined the importance of cutting Tipp’s supply at source.
Few other negatives. Ryan has made use of his panel as promised, Steven O’Brien’s progress has been pleasing and John McGrath looks poised for a whale of a summer. Are their goalkeeping options satisfactory? We’ll see in due course.
9
Fine pupil whose father is clearly ensuring he keeps his nose to the grindstone.
Two good wins, two bad defeats (well, one poor and one downright awful), yet the cup is more half-full than half-empty right now. Hard one to rationalise, eh? Perhaps it’s nothing more than a case of Cork slightly surpassing the low expectations people had for them.
That said, bouncing back from defeat at Nowlan Park to win at Walsh Park was an achievement, not least because of their refusal to allow two consecutive defeats become three consecutive defeats and therefore degenerate into a familiar pattern.
Pat Hartnett pointed out after the Kilkenny game that if Luke Meade and Shane Kingston had looked flat it was because they’d played six games in less than three weeks, a useful warning against undue expectations.
Which or whether the forward line is tasty looking if still lightweight. Tomorrow against Tipperary marks an occasion for Kieran Kingston’s charges to make a statement of sorts. They don’t have to win; they emphatically do have to give the visitors something to think about with May 21st in mind.
7
Uneven output but there’s no doubting the pupil’s determination to succeed.
The most impressive of the trio on four points and not just because they’re ahead of the other pair on scoring difference. This league campaign was never going to be easy, what with new management trying to implement a doctrinal shift and the Ballyea contingent otherwise engaged in recent weeks, yet they handed Kilkenny the biggest defeat of the Cody era, had too much for Dublin and hurled perfectly respectably in defeat at Semple Stadium.
Broadening their variety in attack will continue to be a work in progress; the return of Colm Galvin would be a help in that regard. How long it’ll take Donal Moloney and Gerry O’Connor to get where they wish to arrive, or indeed whether they ever do so, remains to be seen. The first part of the journey has been highly encouraging nonetheless.
8
The pupil has worked hard under his new form masters and can be expected to continue in that vein.
Something a little constipated about them at the moment. They’re not flowing and the performances against Tipperary and Cork were downright disappointing. There’s at least some possibility they overthought matters, a consequence of needing to get points on the board against Kilkenny and Tipp.
But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Where the league is concerned they’ve been there and done that under Derek McGrath, with the result that there was never going to be anything for them in it this time around; 2017 is all about the championship.
The question of Austin Gleeson’s optimum position remains opaque; that’s not a big deal. They could do with some youngster putting his hand up in the forward line between now and their exit from the competition, however, as something different in attack will be imperative come summer.
6
Diligent student who’s lost his sparkle lately, albeit presumably only temporarily.
In a better place than their position in the table might suggest. Timing can be everything and the scheduling of their trip to Semple Stadium a fortnight ago changed everything.
A couple of weeks earlier and they might have been eaten alive; beating Cork in the meantime altered the dynamic entirely. In view of their preposterous injury list one bad performance (against Clare) from four outings was scarcely a crime.
Needed to blood a clutch of newcomers and have been doing so, the caveat being that most of them will take two or even three years to become hardened to the realities of life in the fast lane.
Look at Walter Walsh, who’s been around the house since 2012 but is only now becoming a leader.
No verdict will be returned for a while yet on the Pádraig Walsh experiment but the recasting of Cillian Buckley as a rampaging midfielder is an imaginative and potentially far-reaching move. Bottom of the table, yet things are looking up.
6
The pupil needs to continue his recent improvement in application.
Badly compromised by Cuala’s run to Croke Park because no county needs all hands on the ship the way Dublin do; if nothing else, the incumbent manager must have some scope for choice instead of being straitened by lack of numbers.
So Ger Cunningham was forced to make as best he could and at least he can say he gave youth its head. Short-term pain for long-term gain, as it were.
If the hammering by Tipp wasn’t an indication of Dublin’s true worth the trimming of Cork looks a false result. Perhaps the fairest gauge of their standing was the narrow loss in Ennis a fortnight ago.
The visitors produced a manful display but didn’t have the class or the craft to get over the line. Cuala’s win has a feelgood factor but it’s fleeting; would that Con O’Callaghan were joining up with Cunningham’s panel rather than the Jim Gavin equivalent. They have a fighting chance of saving themselves against Kilkenny tomorrow.
6
Syllabus a little too demanding for the pupil’s current capabilities.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
