At last summer has arrived and championship fever is with us again. Expectations are high in most counties that this will be their summer of success. All the hard slog of the winter months has all but ended now and it is replaced with nice crisp and fast hurling sessions to get the eye in and quicken the reflexes. Hurling coaches far and wide are just now finalising the best options and picking the best selections to do them justice on a given day. Munster hurling days in Thurles, Limerick and Cork together with Leinster's days in Wexford Park, Croke Park and Tullamore are upon us. What a summer of madness we have before us that sometimes we just take for granted and do not appreciate it fully. Tipperary v Cork No doubt this campaign got off to a very lively start with the meeting of Cork and Tipperary in Thurles and on the evidence of the Premier County's display in the National League final, this was a game that most people thought that Tipp would win handy enough because of Cork's lack of time to prepare, a new manager in place and a few retirements thrown into the mix also. For a good period of the game in the first half, Tipperary looked to be comfortable in themselves and but for some wrong decision making and wayward shooting would have been further than four points ahead of Cork at half time. To say they threw Cork a lifeline would be an understatement but whatever was said in that Cork dressing at half time cannot have been nice but had the desired effect. They were a completely different team after the break and had the opportunities to win the match. Tipp on the other hand lost their way completely and some strange substitutions of their top players in that first half-baffled me. Maybe a little complacency set in but there are a lot of worries for Liam Sheedy, more than he would have imagined. Even though they won the game and qualified for a Munster final by beating Clare, there is still major room for improvement and they are not the finished article yet but that is the best way to have it. There is a long way to go yet with a few more twists expected. What of the Rebels? Certainly there were a few outstanding performances to be happy with, most notably the full back and the full forward. They were two guys making their debut but they showed a lot of composure and confidence, even though there is still work to be done with Aisakie at no 14. At a height of 6ft 6in he is going to be a handful for anyone. Eoin Cadogan at full back was my man of the match. Following in the footsteps of the Rock was never going to be easy and he can be very pleased with his days work. Credit to the management for giving him the opportunity as he would not be known for his exploits around the square and would have played all his hurling to date at wing back or centre back. Tougher tests lie ahead but for now it seems he could be around for a long time yet. There were many concerns for Cork during that opening half where the much reliant trio of Gardiner, Curran and O hAilpin came under extreme pressure. Sean Og did manage to up his game considerably and steadied the ship, and it was not this line were taking wrong options on the ball - it was that they did not see it at all. The Tipp half forward and full forward line at times pulled them all over the place and directed puck outs to Lar Corbett who had the reach over Conor O'Sullivan in the corner. It was a great tactic by Tipp and the Rebels fell right into the trap, but Cork did sort it at half time. They put Tom Kenny back wing back and John Gardiner into midfield and the whole pattern of the game changed. More ball was supplied to the Cork forwards and hence we saw more chances and more of Aisakie on the edge of the square. Chances were missed by Cork that would have won them the game and even though they lost they will learn more from that defeat than in victory. They need to keep freshening things up and give more of the youngsters their opportunity and we will alright come the back end of the summer. Waterford v Limerick To be honest everybody expected this to be a cracking game because of the nature of Justin McCarthy's departure from Waterford and the fact that Davy had taken over and brought different ideas and a new passion to the team so much so that we would not be able to hold them on the day of the match - to get a crack at Justin again. Sometimes though when you expect fireworks the opposite happens and this was a very tame affair - low scoring - a lot of stoppages and just bad hurling. Thankfully it ended in a draw and the sides redeemed themselves in the replay when Waterford'd dominace was reflected on the scoreboard. Dublin v Antrim The form of the Dubs in the league was very impressive and the big question been asked was would it be sustained going forward into the championship and was it now the time where Dublin would make a serious impact on the hurling front. Judging by the performance against Antrim, they still have a bit to do yet but sometimes first round games can be tricky encounters because of the expectations - because of playing in Croke Park - because of playing in front of your own supporters and because you are expected to win comfortably which they did. This brings its own pressure for players and it was a game that should stand to them going forward because you cannot buy that level of exposure and for further journeys ahead they can use that experience to good effect. Wexford v Offaly Colm Bonnar will have been very happy with his team performance from this match even though he was short a lot of senior first team members through injury. It shows that you must have strength in depth in your squad and be prepared to trust your bench at crucial times leading up to games and no doubt the manager got the very best out of the squad available to him that day. What of Offaly? Nice talented hurlers with plenty of skill but lacked a bit of physical strength to cope with Wexford but as in the last two years nobody will enjoy facing them in backdoor games and they could cause one or two surprises yet. Joe Dooley is taking these guys in the right direction and patience is the key here. They will come good ... hurling needs them. Tweet

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