Tipperary young guns are 'driving the standard' - Seamus Callanan

The Easter weekend sees the start of the Munster SHC and the return of the round-robin format. Four games for each team, with only three of the five participating counties advancing.

For two, their season will be over either on the weekend ending 15 May or 22 May. That's what the condensed season has now given us. What hopefully will not change is the excitement the round-robin format threw up in the years 2018 and 2019.

Tipperary failed to get out of the bear pit in '18. They did, however, the following year, reaching a Munster final. A heavy defeat to Limerick was their lot. The salvage operation, however, was deemed a great success with Liam MacCarty residing in the county when the summer dust had settled.

Three years on and we wonder whether Tipp are in some sort of transitional phase? The likes of Brendan Maher and Pádraic Maher have retired. Should Liam Sheedy have given more players an opportunity during the last two years of his second coming as manager?

The county did enjoy recent success at U-21/U-20 level.

On being appointed Premier boss, Colm Bonnar didn't feel that the squad were entering a period of transition.

Speaking to RTÉ Sport, he said: "If I can get 15 lads all on the same wavelength, I've no doubt that we're going to be a match for any team out there.

"A bit of luck on any day and you could be Munster champions or you could be bottom of the five. There's a small bit of pessimism in Tipp. People think that there's going to be a transition, and some of the younger players are going to have to get involved.

"I don't see it that way. If I get the right mix there and get a bounce this could happen very quickly. That's what I believe and that's why I'm here."

Throughout the league, Bonnar used 30 players. Seamus