Munster success could come down to ice baths

The Munster SHC will boil down to whichever team has put in place the most effective recovery programme for between games, Clare joint-manager Gerry O’Connor has insisted.

In what is a new departure on the provincial championship front, O’Connor believes the three qualifying spots for the All-Ireland series will be decided as much by how teams conduct themselves off the pitch as what they do inside the whitewash every Saturday and Sunday.

Tipperary and Waterford are out four weekends on the bounce, while Clare, Cork and Limerick will play their four round-robin fixtures across five weekends.