The league is the league - it's championship that's changed

The football league is up and running and we had some crackers, helped in no small part by playing them in appropriate venues where thousands fans generated an electric atmosphere, which would almost certainly be lost in Croke Park, but as a fella said to me before "keep your foot on that for now".

The hurlers get their turn to get the ball rolling this weekend. So can we expect anything different this year from the hurling league? Well for me it totally depends on what management teams are looking to get out of it.

At the top table of inter-county hurling we have no fewer than five new managers, who will all be looking to get off to a good start and generate confidence in the group, belief in the style of play and goodwill from the county’s supporters.

No better way to do that than a win in the Allianz League. Or at least that is the traditional way of thinking.

The problem is the league has become a bit pointless really since the introduction of the round robin hurling championship in 2018, which was followed in 2020 by a league restructure that removed all jeopardy for the top teams.

These switches coincided with the arrival of the juggernaut that is this Limerick team, which has dominated pretty much every competition they have put their mind to.

They went all out to win the league and did so with ease in 2019 and 2020 - 2021 not so much so, even less so in 2022, and still timed it to perfection with their championship prep.

The league hasn’t changed itself, rather it has been transformed by the championship and Limerick.

It’s in no way a dig at Limerick, but rather their dominance means teams now approach the league purely as a means to be ready for championship, rather than trying to win the league itself. Crazy, maybe,