Emmet Moloney writes for the 'The Irish Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.

With rugby matters dominating the back pages, hurling counties around the country have been gearing up for the summer, writes Emmet Moloney...

With one round of National Hurling League to come this Sunday, it is a good time to take the temperature of the hurling counties as we face into the good weather. The big winners this spring are definitely Cork. They are beginning to resemble a side that could do damage. Denis Walsh has obviously tried to change Cork’s style of hurling but, unlike Gerald McCarthy, he has done this with a little bit of subtlety.

The introduction of the younger Ó hAilpín and Michael Cussen has given Cork the option of playing the long ball. Cork won All-Irelands without a traditional target man at the edge of the square in the noughties. Their best man to catch a ball was probably their smallest – Joe Deane. But Cussen and Ó hAilpín are target men and can engineer goals, something the Rebels have lacked in recent years. Cork have Tipp in their sights in the first round of the Munster championship. You’d have to fancy Tipp but the gap between the two teams seems to have narrowed. Cork are on the way back.

Although Galway are the team through to meet Cork in the league final, I’d plump for Waterford as the second most impressive outfit these past few weeks. The Déise seem to have a happy camp and have introduced a couple of newcomers who look the part. Throw in the returning Tony Browne and Ken McGrath and there is real competition for places. That’s what every manager wants. Clare are in Davy’s headlights and his biggest problem could be dampening down expectations. Being the hottest of favourites won’t suit the Déise but they still look far too strong for a Banner team in transition.

Galway’s spring was highlighted by their win in Nowlan Park. Considering the Cats had previously lost to Cork and Tipp and were at home, that was a serious statement. And all without Joe Canning. But Galway have won a few leagues and can usually be found in a final come April or May. Winning leagues is not a problem for them, winning All-Irelands is. This year the draw might be kind to them and they could get a crack at Kilkenny in a Leinster final in Croke Park. An outing like that would be worth three or four league finals to them. Galway’s biggest problem in recent years was a back-door system that didn’t allow them to lose big games. It was knockout by the time the Tribesmen got to Thurles. In Leinster now, they have run out of excuses.

Tipperary lost league and All-Ireland finals to the Cats in 2009. Their goals this spring were probably limited enough – beat Kilkenny and avoid relegation. This they did. Now they will bide their time until meeting Cork, hoping to have a full squad to pick from. The first name on the team sheet will be Padraic Maher. The yellow-helmeted full-back is an early front-runner for hurler of the year.

Maher, in the style of a young Brian Lohan/Diarmuid O’Sullivan, is a full-back who plays from the front, attacking the ball and launching prolific clearances. He is a key man already for Tipp and he can handle Aisake or Michael Cussen come championship time. Of course Kilkenny are in crisis! Losing league games, even losing one at home, not winning the league, not scoring five goals and 20 points a game, etc – the wheels are coming off! Brian Cody has obviously decided to play things a little bit differently this year. The league, so often a vital part of his team development, is being sacrificed at the altar of the five-in-a-row. Kilkenny will probably have to play Galway, then an All-Ireland semi-final and final to achieve the historic fifth, so all focus is on July, August and September.

Unusually for Kilkenny, this league has not thrown up too many new faces. Apart from forward Richie Mullhall, it has been the same crew and this perhaps suggests slight vulnerability. Brian Cody’s selection policy was never to go for the tried and tested; he always went on form. To the outsider’s eye, there doesn’t look like too much competition for places right now in Cat land.

Offaly and Dublin will both be happy to survive in division one. Losing to Limerick this Sunday would be a disaster for Anthony Daly but that’s unlikely. Despite Limerick’s respectable showings, they will be relegated.

The shenanigans on Shannonside have robbed the league of any relegation drama. Although they could stay up by beating Dublin, Limerick’s non-competitiveness will only be exaggerated come championship time. In division two there is a renaissance of sorts underway in Laois, Carlow have taken giant strides, while Wexford and Clare are treading water. Although they are unbeaten, the Banner have enjoyed plenty of good luck – they’ll need more of it to win the division two league final.

Diarmuid Lyng has literally carried Wexford on his back and with a few more like him they would be back in the big time, but that seems a long way off. However, they could sneak back into division one, which would be the ceiling for them this year.

Right now we can’t look past Kilkenny and Tipperary for All-Ireland glory. Cork, Waterford and Galway have realistic hopes but Brian Cody and Liam Sheedy will be happy enough at this stage of the season. They are still the top two sides.

This weekend’s Congress will probably hear some well-intentioned bleating about the future of hurling and how we can get more success stories like Carlow. But what we really need is the likes of Offaly, Clare, Limerick, Wexford and Laois to be truly competitive again. We won’t solve it next weekend.

The weather is perfect. The ground is getting hard and the hurling has been good. It will only get better.

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