{"id":262272,"date":"2026-01-24T21:55:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T21:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/262272\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T21:55:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T21:55:06","slug":"eight-observations-and-predictions-for-the-2026-hurling-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/262272\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight observations and predictions for the 2026 hurling season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">There is a curious comfort in imperfection. The search to eliminate it is what drives organisations and teams forward. Hurling currently contains a lot of imperfections. Hurling needs them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The game itself has hurtled forward, a frenzy of shooting that has at times bordered on the gluttonous. That excess has spilled into every corner of the sport. Tackles, shots, turnovers, high-intensity runs, more. Relentless and rapid fire. An arms race without pause.<\/p>\n<p>This is exclusive subscriber content. Already a subscriber? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/login\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"IE Logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4633150_1_org_IE_logo_modals.png\" width=\"340\" height=\"41\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\tSubscribe to access all of the Irish Examiner.<\/p>\n<p>Annual \u20ac130\u20ac80<\/p>\n<p class=\"best-value\">Best value<\/p>\n<p>Monthly \u20ac12\u20ac6 \/ month<\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Benefits image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4874751_1_org_Funnel_image.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"footer-info\">Introductory offers for new customers. Annual billed once for first year. Renews at \u20ac130. Monthly initial discount (first 3 months) billed monthly, then \u20ac12 a month. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/terms-conditions\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Ts&amp;Cs<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n<p>\t&#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is a curious comfort in imperfection. The search to eliminate it is what drives organisations and teams&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1965,61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-262272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-hurling","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}