‘It’s going to be helter-skelter,’ says Harnedy

out your county into championship action, whatever county that may be, is the top honour that can be bestowed on any Gaelic games player and for Cork’s Seamus Harnedy that honour will fall on him next Sunday.

The St Itas and Imokilly man will lead Cork into the revamped Páirc Uí Chaoimh to what may well be a cauldron like atmosphere to face a Clare side that will be intent on spoiling the party for the home side.

While this may well be Cork’s first championship clash at the new venue Harnedy and many of his colleagues have already played championship fixtures there with the new Captain an integral part of the Imokilly side that claimed the Cork Senior Hurling Title at the same venue late last year.

Now, Harnedy will face into one of the most intensive inter-county hurling periods ever faced in Munster.

“Yes, it’s going to be helter-skelter, four games in five weeks and it’s definitely going to be interesting. Take Limerick, they had a very positive league, getting out of 1B and beating Galway to do so.

“Their underage is now starting to pay dividends and Clare too will be very strong again. Tipp are Tipp, Waterford got to the All-Ireland final last season and that experience will stand to them.

“The strength in depth of all the Munster counties is very strong and it will take a huge amount of different factors to win it.”

And for Cork?

“I suppose the strength of your panel will be vital, minimising injuries will be important too and it’s going to move well beyond a 15-man game. That depth in your squad will be critical from week to week and we will definitely be eyeing a good start at home to Clare in the first match.”

Little doubting that this next five weeks are going to be tough with all teams well in the mix.

“Anyone of the five teams could end up with the Munster trophy in their hands, it’s an extremely competitive environment in which we are competing in now and getting off to a good start is nearly imperative.

“If you lose that first game you immediately start looking at other teams so it’s far better to get into a winning mode.”

Winning then provincial crown last summer was a massive lift for Harnedy and his team mates but things haven’t exactly gone to plan since that day.

“It was hugely encouraging, having to win three big games to do it but unfortunately we were disappointed with how we performed in the All-Ireland semi-final with Waterford, especially the last 15 minutes.

“That is something that we will be trying to rectify now in this championship, try to be more consistent over the entire game. Every new year brings its new challenges and we are back to square one now and we’ll only be judged on our most recent performance.”

Wondering about others are doing outside the camp will get the captain and his team nowhere so now is the time to focus on themselves.

“We can only look after ourselves and not be too focused too much on what goes on outside. We have to prepare ourselves as best we can and we have enough time now as a group to do that.”

We should have been more consistent in the league and from within some of the games themselves.

“We didn’t have great periods in some games, against Clare and Wexford, I suppose. We had a few defeats that we felt we could have got more out of, so consistency of performance from game to game and within games will be key for us.

“In fairness to the management, they blooded some very good guys during the league so that was a major positive outside of winning the relegation match with Waterford.”

This season’s format is obviously a big challenge and Harnedy is well aware of the pitfalls that await

“It’s very much going into an unknown quantity. To use the old cliché, you prefer playing games than training. The training to games ratio was always a criticism from inter-county players as such.

“In that perspective the new regime is good, but it is a very tight time frame so it is going to test everybody, individually and collectively. Yes, you would be excited about it but I’d review again it in seven or eight weeks time.

“Two of arguably the best seven or eight teams in the country are going to be out of the championship after the Munster Championship, but that’s the beauty of it and you must embrace it now for what it is and make sure we are ready.”

Harnedy knows that the Páirc factor will be big for his side this season and he is really looking forward to what awaits.

“A lot of us got used to it last season in the club championship, playing there with Imokilly and other teams and we did a lot of preparation there too for the All-Ireland semi-final.

“It has had its issues but thank God they are being rectified and it’s great to have a home game for starters there and Limerick coming here as well. It’s great for the supporters too, getting to see the team play just up the road and, hopefully, we can make that home advantage tell.”