The alarm bells yet

and Cork lifted, but instead it was forgotten. Such is the way it is – the consequences determine the attention given to mistakes.

In any case, Cahalane won’t let it get to him and the task for Cork is not to let one, admittedly heavy, defeat drag them down. In that sense, Sunday’s trip to Nowlan Park to face Kilkenny is arguably the best-case scenario for them.

It allows Séamus Harnedy to serve his suspension for the red card he incurred – out of character, but that’s two years in-a-row he has been sent off – but with no relegation from the top flight, the game loses some importance, with seedings for the revamped league the only real significance attached. Cork can go and play without fear of any consequences, hopefully blowing out the bad petrol from last weekend.

However, how the team can go from beating the All-Ireland champions to such a heavy home defeat must be perplexing. Perhaps the postponement of ten days ago was a factor, but it shouldn’t be and, in any case, it was the same for Tipp or slightly harder, given the level of training they did in Spain.

Regardless of what happens against Kilkenny, Cork’s next game will be the championship clash against Tipp. The hope has to be that firmer ground and a better day will suit Cork’s style more but there will be need to be a collective improvement and Tipp have shown that they won’t be easily beaten – even last year, despite failing to get out of Munster, they salvaged a draw from nine points down against Cork.

This league was all about building squad depth for Cork and it remains to be seen how successful that quest was. The The hope has to be that firmer ground and a better day will suit Cork’s style more

returns of Cormac Murphy and Aidan Walsh have shown promise but one would have liked to have seen Jack O’Connor – an injury-time replacement for Walsh on Sunday – given more of a chance to show what he can do, especially as the outcome was decided with 20 minutes to go.

Seán O’Donoghue and Darragh Fitzgibbon are two players who weren’t involved on Sunday who will come back in and strengthen competition for places while, as mentioned above, Alan Cadogan will also provide a plus for 2019 compared to 2018.

Will that be enough? Right now, it’s impossible to say, but the opening two championship games, at home to Tipperary and then away to Limerick on consecutive weekends, will give plenty of insight on that score.

Last year, Cork drew with both and topped the group as Clare and Waterford were beaten.

This time around, two points from those two games would again represent an acceptable return. Anything less than that though and Cork could find themselves under pressure ahead of the second part of the provincial campaign.