Inter-county hurling action is back and judging by the crowds we had during winter, it's fair to say the appetite is truly there for the big games to begin again.
The club season was outstanding at all levels - the heart, passion, skill and emotions shown were wonderful to see, but if your club wasn't lucky enough to be part of these great spectacles well then you’ve been sitting and waiting for your county team to get back to action.
It's such a joy to have a team to shout for and get excited about again.
So here we are, ready to get going in the Allianz Hurling League.
It's been over six months since Limerick claimed their fourth All-Ireland SHC title in a row, giving one of the greatest second-half displays of hurling in living memory to beat Kilkenny.
Come the summer, the Treaty will have either created history by winning five in a row or someone will have toppled them because, let’s be honest, if you want to be All-Ireland champions this year it’s Limerick you'll have to get past to do so.
So what can we expect from this league campaign?
Well, it should be more competitive anyway, with the threat of relegation looming large. The standings of the 2024 league tables will dictate whether your county will sit at the top table of the league in 2025.
To qualify for Division 1 hurling in 2025, you must either finish in the top three of Group 1A or 1B, or be the best runner-up. The runner-up category will be determined by a play-off between the two fourth-placed teams. This should add some more spice to the games.
Looking at both groups, 1B looks a little easier to call, with Antrim and Westmeath - and to a lesser degree Dublin - present. Tipp, Limerick and Galway will be hoping to claim the top three spots there but the Dubs could rattle some cages with the bedding-in period now complete for Micheál Donoghue and his management team. Donal Burke returning will be key to this for Dublin.
Westmeath have proven last year they can mix it with the top teams with their outstanding result against Wexford but they will be up against much stiffer opposition in this league group and it's hard to see them causing any upsets.
On the 1A side, all the other teams will be looking at Offaly as a guaranteed win. It will be interesting to see how the Faithful County react to these games and the quality of the opposition they're up against.
For me, Cork and Kilkenny will be safe and then it will be very tight between Clare (without Tony Kelly), Waterford and Wexford to see who can secure that third spot.
So all these permutations should make for some keenly contested matches starting on Sunday with the battle of Clare and Cork and then the in-form Walsh Cup champions Wexford coming to town to try and take two points off Kilkenny.
There's a few things to watch out for.
I’m really looking forward to seeing players like Adam Screeney of Offaly coming up against top-class defenders like Clare's Adam Hogan, Kilkenny's Mikey Butler - who he faced off against already in the club championship - and Sean O’Donoghue of Cork.
How will he react to the physicality of this level and will his wizardry with the stick be enough to see him make an impact? I hope this guy flourishes and reignites the hope we all have that you do not have to be bench-pressing a small house to shine at the top level. Watch this space.
On the coaching front I am really excited to see how Eamon O’Shea gets on as part of Henry Shefflin's backroom team with Galway and what stamp he can put on their style of play.
It’s not Tipperary but it’s as close as it gets for Eamon with his son Donal involved and the fact that he is two good pucks of the ball way from Pearse Stadium. He changed the way we played and thought about the game in Tipp and if the Galway lads buy into it he will change the way they do too.
The best coach I’ve ever had, I will never be able to repay Eamon for what he did for me as a player and the self-confidence he instilled in me. I hope this goes well for him because we all know the potential is there in Galway. Could Eamon be the missing link to see that potential become reality?
Finally, I read this week that the youngest player to hold a senior National Hurling League Division 1 medal in Cork is the great Diarmuid 'The Rock' O’Sullivan. He will be 46 years young this summer - he was 19 when Cork won the league in 1998.
One thing the Rebels have been doing very well lately is competing at the business end on a consistent basis in both the league and championship.
Their under-20s will start making the step up now so I think they could be the team to watch in this year’s league and maybe beyond. As Pat Ryan said, "who are we in Cork not to take the league serious anymore?". That for me is a statement of intent. Sunday in Ennis will tell us more about that.
I’m excited for it all to begin again. I think the games will be more competitive and we'll see less shadow boxing, but as I said before, this is still the pre-requisite for the big show at the end of April: the championship. Throw it in. Let them at it. And no need for VAR.
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Watch highlights on Allianz League Sunday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 9.30pm, follow a live blog every Sunday afternoon on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live updates on Sunday Sport
