Henry Shefflin used 37 players throughout the pre-season Walsh Cup, and the Galway manager is expected to continue his experimental phase throughout this year's Allianz Hurling League campaign.
Galway open up their Division 1A campaign with a tough test at Wexford on Saturday, a game that doubles up as this year’s Walsh Cup final.
And while Shefflin spent his first year in inter-county management developing a team that could compete at the highest level – they reached the All-Ireland semi-final in 2022 – year two will see the Ballyhale man attempt to establish a squad to thwart Limerick’s ambitions of winning their fourth All-Ireland in a row.
That is the opinion of Shefflin’s former team-mate, Jackie Tyrrell, who felt that Galway came up just short last year as a result of lacking the strength in depth that Limerick were in possession of in that closely contested semi-final.
Limerick edged that encounter by three points before going on to beat Kilkenny in the final, and Tyrell felt that Galway could have won it themselves if they had a stronger bench to get them through in the final stages.
"Looking back on last year, the one huge learning that Henry will have taken, and if you look at the All-Ireland semi-final where they came so close to Limerick, they just lacked that punch off the bench to get them over the line," said Tyrrell, speaking on this week's RTE GAA Podcast.
"Limerick were able to bring guys on to finish the job off, while Galway didn’t get that punch, so they will be looking to unearth new talent. Johnny Coen has stepped away and retired, so that is another option that has gone for him.
"That will be his big focus. Can he get more lads that can contribute and maybe even start, definitely coming off the bench, because that is what stood out last year, the same kick wasn’t there in Galway when they needed lads to come off the bench.
"I’d say Henry knows 12 or 13 of his starting 15 already as he has a lot of stalwarts who were in really great form last year. You think of the Mannions, the Joseph Cooneys, the Daithi Burkes – I’d say he is quite comfortable with those lads and will intermittently phase those guys in.
"Henry will be one of the most experimental managers in the league. He just needs new talent that he has confidence in when they come off the bench, 'this lad could get me a point, this lad could do me a job’."
Looking ahead to the League campaign, Tyrrell noted that Cork have an abundance of talent coming through the ranks and the former Kilkenny man has tipped the Rebels to be one to watch over the next couple of months.
"I’m going to go for Cork, a team that don’t traditionally do well in the league," said Tyrell, when pushed for a prediction.
"I think they have the best underage talent coming through, I think if they could get on a good run…"
And Tyrell feels that new manager Pat Ryan could get the best out of Patrick Horgan who was surprisingly dropped during the 2022 championship campaign.
"The Patrick Horgan thing is very interesting," said Tyrrell. "I’ve never seen someone so narky in all my life. They say as you get older, and you get near the end, you get narky, but if you can manage that.
"I remember he scored a goal and made a gesture to silence the critics, so if they could harness that, it could really bode well for Pat Ryan and it might get a nice tune out of Patrick Horgan."
Elsewhere, Tyrrell feels that Wexford are already showing signs that they will be a competitive unit in 2023, with their next test against Shefflin’s Galway in the aforementioned league clash, with the Walsh Cup also up for grabs.
"I watched the Kilkenny game down in Wexford Park and I was really impressed with Richie Lawlor, and Conor Devitt at corner back," said Tyrrell.
"Wexford probably had more of their mainstay players playing that day but you had guys that are after slotting into different positions and looked very comfortable this early in the year, so I would say Darragh Egan will be happy what he got from the Walsh Cup.
"And if he can get a win at the weekend it will give them confidence going into the league."
