We have some summer ahead of us!<\/p>\n
There are still two massive provincial finals to be played in Munster and Leinster, but we already know the six teams that have qualified for the All-Ireland series.<\/p>\n
Here’s how we ranked them.<\/p>\n
6. Offaly<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been amazing to see the resurgence of hurling within the county, the road that famous under-20 team has embarked on has been incredible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Other counties should take note of the fabulous work that has been done by the likes of chairperson Michael Duignan, manager Johnny Kelly and benefactors such as\u00a0 Shane Lowry.<\/p>\n
A county that has really pulled in the one direction the last number of years, but a quarter-final against the Munster runner-up should spell the end of the road.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They will play with a certain level of freedom given the \u2018underdog\u2019 tag they\u2019ll no doubt have, so I suspect they\u2019ll make it a tighter affair than many would predict.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They have some super hurlers in Dan Bourke and Adam Screeney, a fine full forward in Brian Duignan and, the best upcoming keeper in the country in the gentleman that is Liam Hoare, but this one is a bridge too far for them at the moment.<\/p>\n
5. Galway<\/p>\n
He\u2019s come in and has blended the aforementioned young guns with the imperial likes of Conor Whelan and centre back Daithi Burke ever so well.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s truly a toss-up for me in this ranking about Clare, Dublin or Galway, but the loss of Niland has made up my mind that they remain in fifth.<\/p>\n
I could easily be proved wrong; however, a win in the All-Ireland under-20 final against Clare, as well as a Leinster final victory, could have me eating my heart out.<\/p>\n
4. Dublin<\/p>\n
Yes, you\u2019ll have noticed it\u2019s the three Leinster teams in my bottom three of this list. I think with fair reason though.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The last time a Leinster team won the All-Ireland was Galway back in 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That gap is closing, no doubt, and Dublin won\u2019t have too much fear against the top three from Munster given the win over the greatest team of all in Limerick last year, but the quality and strength of bench isn\u2019t quite there for me just yet.<\/p>\n
Much like the Donoghue appointment in Galway, you got the sense from the get-go that the Niall \u00d3 Ceallach\u00e1in one was always just going to work. A man from their county, who just \u2018gets it’.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019s surrounded himself with a fine group of players.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve D\u00f3nal Burke, Brian Hayes, Fergal Whitely and Ronan Hayes in attack with the lion that is Chris Crummey in the half-back line.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Liam Rushe injuring himself in the warm up against Kilkenny was a loss, but no better man than John Bellew to step in.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having a John Bellow, John Hetherton and Ronan Hayes available to come in when called upon is the reason I have them ahead of Galway.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s amazing to see the Dubs support this team, and no doubt they\u2019ll support the Boys in Blue all the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I just think all the way for them this year is a semi-final, but a Leinster winners medal in the back pocket will soften the blow.<\/p>\n
3. Clare<\/p>\n
Two pretty dismal displays against the two best teams in the country in Limerick and Cork won\u2019t do them many favours, but much like after their loss to Limerick, they should bounce back in a bit of style. They have too much talent in that team not to.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ryan Taylor in the midfield perhaps also doesn\u2019t get the plaudits he deserves. On his, and Mark Rodgers’ hopeful return, the optimism in the camp will be high.<\/p>\n
2. Cork<\/p>\n
A real toss-up between the top two here. Cork and Limerick is by far the best rivalry in Irish sport right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two counties that meet so often they\u2019ll know each other like the back of their hand. You could make the argument that Cork are almost looking up to Limerick and adopting their style of mixing the short and the long, bolstered by lightning-quick wing forwards.<\/p>\n
Cork will take great confidence from their Munster defensive record; 3-84 against is certainly not a bad campaign and the best of the bunch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I do have my doubts about the backline despite this lack of opposition scoring, however.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The often criticised Damien Cahalane has done a stellar job as full back this championship it must be said!\u00a0<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t help but wonder, though, how much more intimidating they could be with an injury-free Ciar\u00e1n Joyce, and that\u2019s where I do worry for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They are a serious Se\u00e1n O\u2019Donoghue, Niall O\u2019Leary or Rob Downey injury away from the All-Ireland push being in jeopardy.<\/p>\n
Barry Walsh has been a revelation; he shows his youth and inexperience at times, being only 19, but he doesn\u2019t let it get him down or affect his play, and that is some compliment to a player of his age.<\/p>\n
William Buckley is another amazing find, and I think Ben O\u2019Connor loves him so much as he reminds him of himself; maybe not the biggest, but he brings that eye of the tiger that has been lacking from Cork teams down the years.<\/p>\n
Shane Barrett, an outstanding championship after a not-so-great league, he’s been a nightmare for teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The two speedsters alongside him in Walsh and ‘Dudsy’ Healy are really helping out his game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They have a seriously imposing forward, who I think will win them the Munster final, as they want to defend their ‘patch’. As Barrett put it, it will be high.<\/p>\n
1. Limerick<\/p>\n
Just awesome to watch. They are, for me, the greatest team of all time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve come closer to the pack, but they are still just about in front of Cork.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It comes down to them knowing how to win All-Irelands.<\/p>\n
Yes, Aidan O\u2019Connor, the \u2018Bull\u2019 O\u2019Brien or Cathal O\u2019Neill or Adam English weren\u2019t out there on the pitch doing it, but they\u2019ve so many players that have.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sports psychologist Caroline Currid being back with the group may also go a long way into securing Liam MacCarthy back Shannon-side.<\/p>\n
Cork might defend their home patch, but I think the Treaty will have the last laugh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We have some summer ahead of us! There are still two massive provincial finals to be played in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-476790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476790","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=476790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}