I strongly fancy Derry to go all the way in the football this year. They’ll not want for motivation as I’m sure they’ve spent the last eight months wondering how they kicked away the semi-final v Galway in the opening half last July. Gallagher is an obsessive and I’m sure he’ll have concocted a game-plan better suited to capitalising when they are in the ascendency in games.
Regarding the hurling, it’s hard to see anyone toppling Limerick but then again, I really felt they’d come unstuck last year at some point but it never materialised. Gillane is a huge miss for them (should he continue to be cut from the panel) and that may be enough to disrupt their flow in an attacking sense as he’s such a unique player in that inside-forward position. I suspect come the summer Kyle Hayes will revert back into the no.11 role he filled prior to give them more options in attack but for now, he’s doing a decent job at wing-back.
Kilkenny have come back to the pack, as have Clare, so Tipperary, Cork, Galway and Waterford will all fight it out for the ‘gallant losers’ tag for 2023, I feel. Tipperary are making noticeable progress under Cahill and Bevans and I feel as though they’ll get to an All-Ireland semi-final once the team have the requisite fitness levels Cahill demands and their injury-list clears up. Their appetite for goals is noteworthy in a game devoid of teams who do this (Limerick and Galway, for example, would rather rack up 0-30 than 3-21, it seems) so that could be a strategy which pays dividends on the firm pitches of summer.