After another Sunday of hurling we're still waiting for the championship to deliver. Cork, and to a lesser extent Dublin offered little in the way in resistance to Galway and Waterford.
After the Tipp Limerick match a friend of mine opined that they should just skip to the All Ireland semi final with the 4 provincial finalists. A limp qualifier series later and that's exactly what we've got.
There are 9 major hurling counties (Offaly, unfortunately can no longer make that claim) and this season 4 of them have gone backwards. Corks lack of underage development has caught up with them. Dublin are growing old together with little in the way of fresh blood. Wexford were probably not as good as they thought after last year and Limerick could not bring the intensity that masked their shortcomings up front for a third championship season.
Results wise, Clare improved on last year but still haven't hit the heights of 2013. The temptation is to look on that success as the aberration rather than the aftermath, or to blame Davy.
The most startling improvement this year has obviously been Waterford. Derek McGrath has found a system which marries discipline and organisation with the dash of individual panache that has characterized Deise teams over the years
Tipp have finally won something under O'Shea which can only be a positive but they are operating at such a high standard that small improvements are all that's possible.
Galway have been their usual mixture of good and ordinary. This year they have managed to be good when they've needed to be. They managed to survive the first day against Dublir, which was their worst performance and kept it respectable in the Leinster final
Kilkenny as always have got to the business end without breaking a sweat. As inevitable as death and taxes the machine just keeps on rolling. They haven't been tested yet, but it's never stopped them in the past.
It looks like a Kilkenny Tipp final However Waterford will ask questions of the Cats who won't be familiar playing against the system the Deise employ. Galway usually turn up for a semi final at Croker ( just ask one B Cody) and, as young Johnny Glynn so eloquently reminded us all, are about more than just Joe these days so Tipp s marquee forwards Callinan and Bubbles will need to show up as well.
Hurling badly needs two good semis. A repeat of the Kilkenny Limerick match last year would do nicely, but without the monsoon. I would argue that it probably needs a Galway Waterford final for novelty but let's face it, who would complain if the favourites prevail and we got a repeat of last year's drawn match.
