How seriously do counties take the league?

The Allianz Hurling League is in full flow, but how much are certain counties holding back as they look to peak for the summer championship?

That was debated on Allianz League Sunday after the latest round of fixtures, with Donal Óg Cusack and Liam Sheedy both convinced that a lot of teams are mainly using the spring to polish things up.

"Fundamentally, the championship is the priority in the game we play," said Cusack.

"That's what you're going to be judged on. The league, as long as I remember it, was always used for preparation, so teams are going to try to peak. The league is not the priority. They're all trying to use it for different reasons.

"But I think still there's a lot to be appreciated about the games once we don't expect the league to be the end."

Sheedy said that Waterford's storming league campaign in 2022 has actually served to make managers think twice about storming out of the traps early in the year, adding: "I'd say Waterford last year has everyone on high alert. They were so good in the league, if you were picking a team of the league they had seven or eight players who would have been sitting on the team of the year at that stage. Then it just went completely wrong for them.

"There's a little bit of nervousness and I think managers aren't really sure how to time it."