The creme de la creme. The head on the pint. The cheese on the curry chips.
The GAA has abandoned the split Division 1 system it maintained for the last 13 years and reverted to the more traditional notion of a single top bracket for this year's Allianz Hurling League.
Change can be hard though, which is perhaps why they have called it Division 1A, the A presumably standing for 'absolutely nothing’. The Division 1B the bottom two teams will be relegated to is, in reality, Division 2. Though those teams may have not realised this and shouldn’t be told, in case it comes as a shock. Perhaps it was deemed too cruel for Fermanagh to end up in Division 5 after winning 3B last year?
Anyway, it’s time to party like it’s 2011, the last time we had a standalone top tier, although not exactly, as Dublin are in 1B (bogus?) and there are now seven teams rather than eight.
We’ll see whether that proves a lucky number but hopefully only five sides staying up does lead to more competitive fare than under the most recent structure.
The compressed nature of the round-robin championships (the league after the league) and inter-county season in general means the spring competition will remain an exercise in preparation for the majority of teams but, looking at 1A and 1B, it’s also hard to imagine an All-Ireland contender coming from the second tier so they will be keen to avoid the drop.
Thankfully, the semi-finals have also been ditched, but the final remains just two weeks before the first round of championship, which has had managers weighing up the potential benefit to injury risk in the past.
Clare
2024 league: Winners
2024 championship: Winners
Manager: Brian Lohan (sixth year in charge)
Squad news: Dual All-Ireland winners Seadna Morey and Paul Flanagan have retired, meaning five of the 2013 panel will attempt to become the first Clare men to win three Celtic crosses: John Conlon, Peter Duggan, Tony Kelly, David McInerney and Hurler of the Year Shane O'Donnell, who is expected to again sit out the majority of the league with an eye to being fresher in the summer.
Prospects: Traditionally, the Liam MacCarthy winners start the league a little slower, having gone somewhere warm to celebrate (Nashville and Miami in November) while all the other teams are pulling logs through frozen ditches and throwing up at the top of hills, or so managers would have their players believe.
Having finally scaled the mountain, helped by a boost in belief from winning this competition last year, Clare might be concentrating more on getting their fitness up to par more than defending their title.
Prediction: Fourth
Cork
2024 league: Third in Division 1 (A)
2024 championship: Runners-up
Manager: Pat Ryan (third year in charge)
Squad news: No retirements, or at least none yet announced, as you might expect from a team that was only one point away from forcing Clare to a replay in the big show. The old stagers Patrick Horgan (36) and Seamus Harnedy (34), who generates fewer headlines but was a deserved All-Star in 2024, are back in pursuit of that elusive title, as are Conor Lehane and Damien Cahalane. Two-time Under-20 All-Ireland winner Jack Cahalane, brother of Conor and Damien, has joined the panel after a couple of years with the Rebel footballers.
Prospects: It has been 20 years since Cork won the All-Ireland but 27 since they ruled the league and a trophy might be a nice morale boost ahead of attempting to go one better than last year’s heartbreak. However, they have rarely embraced the competition; Kieran Kingston, manager in 2022, wondered whether the effort of reaching, and losing, the league final that year had hurt the subsequent championship campaign, though he acknowledged: "If we had won the league, we might have said it was great".
Prediction: Third
Galway
2024 league: Third in Division 1 (B)
2024 championship: Fourth in Leinster (eliminated)
Manager: Micheál Donoghue (first year of second spell charge)
Squad news: It’s the return of the king out west but Micheál Donoghue has already shown he won’t be dwelling on past glories by dispensing with Gearóid McInerney, Joseph Cooney and Adrian Tuohey – all members of his 2017 All-Ireland-winning team - from the panel. The man who lifted Liam MacCarthy that year, David Burke, is back for another spin at 35.
Prospects: New managers generally treat the league as more of a player-finding exercise than others but then Donoghue knows a lot of the panel well already, and they actually won the competition from 1B in ’17 when it was (kind of) the second tier. He might target a good run ahead of the key goal of getting out of Leinster this year but the morale could still be low after disappointing end to last season - courtesy of their now manager and Dublin - and finding a few new players is a bigger priority.
Prediction: Relegation
Kilkenny
2024 league: Runners-up
2024 championship: Semi-finalists
Manager: Derek Lyng (third year in charge)
Squad news: Three more of the 2015 winning side have left the building; Cillian Buckley, Conor Fogarty and Walter Walsh. That leaves just Eoin Murphy, Richie Reid and TJ Reid as Kilkenny panel members with All-Ireland medals, scarcely believable given the success of the decade before. Kerry native Fionán Mackessy has been added to the squad after moving to Kilkenny and joining O’Loughlin Gaels.
Prospects: A Leinster five-in-a-row was secured, and Derek Lyng will feel they let Clare off the hook in the semi-final, but it was a disappointing finish to 2024 after reaching the decider in his first year. The Cats always seem to go well in the league and the lack of club provincial progression means there should be a full deck to choose from from the start, for a change. John Donnelly of county champions Thomastown is the new captain.
Prediction: Finalists
Limerick
2024 league: Semi-finalists
2024 championship: Semi-finalists
Manager: John Kiely (ninth year in charge)
Squad news: Two of the breakthrough class of 2018 - and both All-Stars that year - have called it a day: Forward Graeme Mulcahy and defender Richie English. Mulcahy made a couple of substitute appearances off the bench in last year’s championship but English had seen limited action since damaging his cruciate ligament in 2020. The most eye-catching addition is the return of former forward Shane Dowling, who had retired in 2020 due to injury but is still only 31, as a goalkeeper. Three-time All-Star netminder Nickie Quaid is out for the season after damaging his ACL.
Prospects: It will be fascinating to see how Limerick regroup after going from hot favourites to seal the first ever five-in-a-row to their season ending in a semi-final sell-out defeat to Cork. You suspect Kiely might have walked away if history had been made but the appetite has surely been sharpened by that disappointment.
The core of the team remains that which won the first of five All-Irelands in six years so the age profile is creeping up but Cian Lynch, Aaron Gillane, Kyle Hayes, Tom Morrissey, Seamus Flanagan, Sean Finn, Mike Casey and Barry Nash are all still in their 20s. The likes of Cathal O’Neill and Adam English have also managed to force their way into the team. Limerick are a panel of proven winners and after an earlier winter break than usual might be raring to go by now; in contrast to years post Liam MacCarthy success when they have played a longer game.
Prediction: Finalists
Tipperary
2024 league: Semi-finalists
2024 championship: Fifth in Munster
Manager: Liam Cahill (third year in charge)
Squad news: Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher has retired, meaning Noel McGrath is now the last man standing from Tipp’s 2010 All-Ireland victory, as has 2016/19 winner Dan McCormack. Two-time All-Star corner-back Cathal Barrett (31) has been told he is surplus to requirements but Seamus Kennedy is back after damaging his cruciate during last year’s league.
Prospects: It feels like a bit like a make-or-break season for Cahill. Things started so well in 2023 but the wheels fell off against his (already eliminated) former team Waterford in the final round of Munster that season and they haven’t been reattached since; just a single point was garnered in four provincial matches last year. Tipperary have lost huge talent and experience like the Mahers and Seamus Callanan in recent seasons, and the jury is still out on whether Cahill’s U20 winners of 2018-19 are capable of making the Premier contenders again. Younger talent like newcomer Darragh McCarthy could get the chance to shine instead.
Tipp have had two strong regular-round league campaigns under Cahill, losing just one of ten games – by a point to Limerick in 2024 - but were well beaten by Clare in the last four last year and carried that form into championship. After two fade outs in a row a new approach might be advisable but the manager seems to put a lot of store in hitting the ground running.
Prediction: Fourth
Wexford
2024 league: Fourth in 1A
2024 championship: Third in Leinster, All-Ireland quarter-finalists
Manager: Keith Rossiter (second year in charge)
Squad news: Wexford have lost three major players to retirement in the shape of 2019 Leinster winners Diarmuid O’Keeffe, Matthew O’Hanlon and Liam Óg McGovern while brothers Paudie and Oisin Foley are overseas. Rossiter said this week that he was dealing with an "injury crisis" and expected to have to field an "experimental" line-up for the opening game against Cork. Forwards Conor McDonald (hamstring) and Lee Chin (travelling) are expected to miss the majority of the league, as is full-back Liam Ryan after undergoing surgery. Damien Reck and Jack O’Connor have hamstring issues.
Prospects: Rossiter enjoyed a successful first campaign in charge, keeping the Yellowbellies in the top flight (by virtue of a better points difference than Dublin) and pipping Galway to qualification from the Leinster championship thanks to a superb win in Chadwicks Wexford Park, before they exited to eventual winners Clare. The loss of so many key personnel bodes ominously though, especially for the short-term. Staying up would be a big achievement and finding a few new players might be a more realistic ambition.
Prediction: Relegation
