As we approach the final furlong of the Allianz Hurling League, and what will be for all counties - bar Tipp and either Galway or Cork - the last bit of competitive action until a ball is thrown in for championship, we ask one question: just what exactly are some teams looking to get from this final round?
Galway have enjoyed the biggest change in fortunes over the course of the campaign. After they were hammered by Tipp at home in January in their first game, the knives were out for the Galway management and players, but Micheál Donoghue and Co took a lot from that day. They knew they had good players and some fine young talent but needed to be careful in how they blended youth and experience.
Since then, Donoghue has named much more experienced teams in each round while sprinkling in some youth. He's given several players a taste of inter-county hurling at the top level and the experience they will have gained from that will be invaluable.
Case in point for me is Anthony Burns. He lit it up against Clare with 2-03 from play in Salthill but the real lessons for him will have come from marking Limerick's Seán Finn recently and finding himself sitting on the sideline watching the second half.
You win or you learn, and he will have taken so much from that experience of being marked by one of the best to ever do it in that section of the field.
So, will Galway want to reach that league final now in what is unofficially a semi-final this weekend against Cork on Leeside? I think both teams will be going for this; and with the chance of silverware and a national title so close they would be foolish not to.
For Galway, if they were to get there, I am sure they’d be looking to right a lot of wrongs from day one in Salthill against Tipp.
As for Cork, well I have seen them up close a couple of times this year now, most recently in Ennis against a Clare side that looked lifeless.
Maybe they left it all out there against Limerick and were satisfied to see that they can do it when needed, but you have to remember the personnel that Limerick were without that day too so I wouldn’t be putting all my faith in that performance.
But back to Cork. If and when the Rebels can get all their top guys on the pitch together and humming, I do feel they are the biggest challengers to Limerick in terms of class and pace. Now they have added that bit of bite and physicality to their game too.
It is frightening for the rest of us to think the potential forward line that Cork could have come championship. A half-forward line of Diarmuid Healy, Shane Barrett and Seamie Harnedy and then inside of Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes and Hoggie - that is a forward unit that ticks all the boxes for me: speed, skill, power and finishers.
With the game being in Cork and on a Saturday night it will create another great atmosphere, like we have seen twice already this year in the Páirc. I do feel both managers will go for this and realistically there is not much need to hide anything tactically, as they likely wouldn't face each other again until an All-Ireland semi-final or final.
If both managers can go as strong as possible for this fixture, I feel Cork will have too much for their Western counterparts and could give us a glimpse of what’s to come this year.
For Galway, I don't think they have to win this game. They have made great progress throughout this league and have now established a solid spine to their team to build around for championship.
Galway have tried out 37 players, and while it just did not work out or happen for them on certain days, I am sure overall that Donoghue will be more than pleased to see how his players have done in this league. He'll be confident that regardless of Saturday night’s result they will be ready to perform and compete in the Leinster championship and beyond this year.
"I think if I was getting a chance in a Tipperary jersey this weekend I would be taking that with both hands griped tightly around it"
In the Gaelic Grounds, Limerick will look to mix it up by getting some game time into players making their way back. John Kiely might say to three or four guys 'it’s been a good league and here’s one final chance in a competitive environment to give us a serious headache when we sit down to pick a team to travel to Thurles on 20 April'.
Limerick will admit they didn’t perform against Kilkenny and will want to right some wrongs from that game too and I feel Wexford could feel the wrath of this on Saturday.
Wexford will want to try and get something to boost the group’s morale before they face Antrim on 19 April, but they are going to have to try and get that from potential challenge games against Munster opposition or else ferocious internal games where Keith Rossiter takes a Brian Cody approach to it, leaving the whistle in the car and letting them at it.
Limerick will win this and then the focus turns to Tipperary with four weeks of work and planning to take down the Premier men and kickstart their journey to taking back the Liam MacCarthy.
Tipp have the league final to keep them occupied for the next couple of weeks but have no doubt they are thinking about that throw-in in Tom Semple’s Field in Thurles.
Tipp and Clare do battle in Thurles and I see this as a chance for players to impress on both sides and push themselves into contention for a league final place or, in Clare’s case, an opportunity to try and push themselves up the ladder for championship selection.
So this game as a spectacle could be either brilliant and free-flowing with two sets of players who are going to give it everything to try and impress their managers, or else a damp squib with nothing on the line for anyone.
I think if I was getting a chance in a Tipperary jersey this weekend I would be taking that with both hands griped tightly around it and for that reason I think Tipp will be the hungrier group.
I just don’t know how Clare will approach this game but the human nature of it is that they need a performance regardless of the result; something positive to take into their four-week pre-championship build-up block.
They have bodies to come back, and the league is just the league. I am sure they will be hopping off each other for the next few weeks and maybe we could see Shane O’Donnell back before the year is done too.
What a lift that would be for all those playing for and shouting for the Banner County.
In Division 1B, Offaly are up and deservedly so. I'm sure Johnny Kelly will look to rest most of their top guys and this should allow Waterford, who are getting back to full power week by week, to win this game and set up a repeat fixture in two weeks' time against the same opposition.
Peter Queally will be hoping that they can get the job done as quickly as possible without the need for his men to go to the well to get a result against what will most likely be a depleted Offaly selection.
To call it now, it will be a Cork-Tipp final. We know Clare and Wexford are going down and I feel Waterford and Offaly will be doing a swapsies there.
The league has not disappointed to be fair and the championship switch gets flicked on from Sunday onwards for most teams. Only four weeks to go now.
Watch Cork v Galway in the Allianz Hurling League on Saturday from 7.20pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
Watch Allianz League Sunday from 10.20pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to updates around the country on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
