There's a grand stretch in the evening and you know hurling season is starting to get into the swing of things when you’re tempted to head out for a few pucks when you get home.
Most clubs will be nearing getting back to pitch sessions, if they're not already doing so, and that change in the hour is only around the corner. A magical time of the year.
So as we head into round three of the league I wonder whether this is the time to peak in the league - or is it needed at all?
I was doing some work recently with the great Anthony Daly and he gave one of the best quotes I’ve heard in a long time.
We were chatting about Tipp and how they’re going so far and Dalo asked "Are they peaking when they should be puking?!"
We know what he means. Are they going too well too early when they should be training like dogs?
Well most counties are training like dogs around now and the matches seem to bear that out. It got me thinking - is there a time to peak for the league and are we nearing that now?
Everyone is all in now given that the Fitzgibbon Cup is done and dusted (a massive congrats to my alma mater Mary Immaculate on their great win).
It’s eight weeks to the first round of the championship. Entering round three, if your team has struggled thus far, this weekend could mean curtains for their chances of qualifying for the top league group in 2025.
So with the timeframe, the prospect of only two more competitive games before championship, and the looming threat of relegation, I would contend this is 'moving day' for several teams in the top hurling leagues.
Add to the fact that managers will now be wanting the majority of their top players back on the pitch together in a competitive setting.
Even last time out, we saw a much stronger Kilkenny team against Cork compared to the side that drew with Wexford.
Nine of their starting XV from the All-Ireland last year didn’t feature at all against Wexford. That was whittled down to four for the Cork game.
So while the league is for trying new lads, from here on in I think we’ll see the more high-profile players getting increased game-time.
For those reasons, I think the standout tie of the weekend will be in SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh when Cork welcome Waterford.
Cork lose and their chance of hurling in 1A in 2025 is almost certainly gone due to losing head-to-heads with the top three, and the fact they would only be able to accumulate four points max.
Now might be the time for Cork to peak in the league. If there’s anything in the group, it will need to come out this weekend.
A loss here makes the run-in to championship a far more difficult one for a team that were so close to progressing from Munster last year - and who knows what might have happened then.
But they didn’t and that has been the story for Cork hurling for a while now.
There's more in this Cork group than we’ve seen so far - key players are returning from injury and college duty. I think Pat Ryan will be naming as close to full strength as he possibly can for this tie.
They need this win. I think they will get it too and it could kick-start their year.
Elsewhere, the Banner men travel to the sunny south-east to Chadwick's Wexford park where they gave Wexford an unmerciful beating last year.
I was at the game and was running out of paper to mark off the scores the Clare lads were putting up. Wexford were decimated with injuries and Clare came really strong that day.
The hosts have a cleaner bill of health this time around but are still without Dee O’Keeffe and Matthew O’Hanlon.
It’s hard getting a handle on Wexford yet. They should have beaten Kilkenny the first day out and were then held to a draw by Offaly - admittedly they were reduced to 13 men.
This is a real litmus test for them against a top team, who will most likely be welcoming back some top players this week too and are looking to cement their place in the top three.
A win for Keith Rossiter’s men would be massive - but I feel it will be a bridge too far.
On the 1B side of the house, there really is only one game that holds any interest for the neutral. That's in Croke on Saturday night, when Dublin welcome the All-Ireland champions to town.
How will John Kiely look at this fixture?
As a chance to start filtering back in a few more championship guaranteed starters? Or a chance for some guys to say, 'Hey John I want to be on this team this year'?
I’m thinking of Cathal O’Neill, Colin Coughlan, Adam English, Shane O’Brien and Donnacha O’Dálaigh, to name a good few.
I think it will be a blend of experience, mixed with those younger guys with something to prove to Kiely for the year ahead.
Either way, whatever team takes the field for Limerick they will be far too strong for a Dublin side who are giving their all but are well short of the top teams. They haven't found a player with anything like the class of Donal Bourke to provide leadership and haul them through the league
Dublin just look out of their depth right now and are likely bound for 1B in 2025.
So coming back to my original question, do teams need to peak?
Not so much. But they definitely need to start finding that rhythm, start building some momentum and start getting the crowd behind them. This weekend is an ideal time to do that.
