The halfway line has yet to be braced in the National Hurling League but there is a distinct Munster hue to the top positions in Division 1A and 1B.
Sitting in fifth and sixth positions in the former, Kilkenny and Galway will rightly highlight they have played one game less than Cork, Tipperary and Waterford above them.
Nevertheless, one Leinster county could virtually be gone from Division 1A after this weekend. Lose to Galway in Birr on Sunday and Offaly will not be able to catch a minimum of three but possibly as much as five teams.
A win for Waterford in Kilkenny that same afternoon would all but secure Peter Queally’s side their Division 1A status having come up last year. A point may even be enough – it was sufficient for Limerick to retain their position in 2025.
With Clare already looking to be making a swift return to Division 1A, there’s a possibility next year’s top flight could be considered a dry run for the Munster senior hurling championship.
To give an indication of what a Munster-dominated top flight might look like, 10 of the 21 games would be all-Munster clashes, the same amount of round fixtures in the provincial championship itself.
The last elite division to feature all five Munster SHC teams was in the eight-team version in 2009. It hardly reflected their prevalence as Kilkenny won the competition and Dublin and Galway finished third and fourth respectively.
Since then, there have been six all-Munster Division 1 finals and one all-Leinster decider in 16 renewals. Kilkenny have appeared in half of those 16, Tipperary next best with six.
No team has respected their first two competitions of the year better than The Cats, but as they aren’t part of the Munster gang they don’t feel the love.
Going back to Eoin Cody’s pre-2023 championship remarks and man-of-the-match interview following the All-Ireland semi-final win over Clare, they have decried the lack of credit coming their way.
Paddy Deegan has spoken about it as has captain TJ Reid – “I don’t think people maybe give the team credit for going six in-a-row in Leinster”.
Manager Derek Lyng recently referenced it too: “I think there’s probably a narrative about Leinster hurling being the weaker relation – I don’t buy into that at all.”
Munster’s shade casts long, though. Besides four of the last six All-Ireland finals being all-Munster affairs, 2024 was the first time since 1997 that a Leinster SHC county failed to beat a Munster team.
If the southern province takes over Division 1A, it will simply be considered a sign of the times. Imitation may be the best form of flattery but such repetition mightn’t be the healthiest thing for hurling.
Beating Waterford will provide Kilkenny with few bragging rights. It will at least keep them ahead of Galway before high-flying Cork visit on Sunday week.
If 2027’s Division 1A is going to be a Munster mash, Kilkenny will sure as hell want to be one of the gatecrashers. It is the only way to keep up with Joneses.
