Conor Lehane says standards have levelled off so much in hurling that anything can happen in any given game.

Cork will return to action on May 25th, when they face Waterford in the Munster championship, and Lehane anticipates a summer of closely-contested matches.

"It's a while yet to go, we'll have plenty of time to regather and regroup," he says in The Examiner. "We'll be playing against ourselves and stuff like that and we have to pick it up.

"Learning from last year especially, absolutely anything can happen. There is no pattern any more, especially how close teams are getting this year. Every team is only winning or losing by only a few points. That kind of day is gone in hurling so coming up to it you can't take anything for granted.

"We know there is going to be a big gap but we are just going to train as hard as we can and prepare ourselves mentally."

Reflecting on Sunday's league quarter-final defeat to Tipperary, the Rebel County attacker adds: "A lot of it I'd say has to do with Cork and Tipperary up in Thurles, they're always serious games between us there,"

"But when you're playing in the top division you have that advantage of playing at a higher standard and pace earlier in the year so when you're coming to the quarter-finals and semi-final you are going to be a lot more ready, you're as close to championship pace as you can be.

"The start obviously wasn't the best, but that's the way things go sometimes. But we showed unbelievable heart to come back from ten points down to go in two points ahead at half time.

"That's just the way the game went and we came out on the wrong side of it. We're not overly disappointed with our performance but we will just train away and drive on for the Waterford game." Tweet

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