Rebels need to make home advantage count

The days of ‘one strike and you’re out’ have long been confined to hurling history and yet the stakes as Cork and Tipperary meet in Sunday’s Munster Championship opener are such that the losing side in Páirc Uí Chaoimh will be one small slip away from an extended summer break.

Of the five sides that lost their opening games in last year’s Munster and Leinster round robins, only Clare managed to right the boat in time to secure passage through to the All-Ireland series. It’s no wonder the talk this last week at various media launches has been that of momentum.