Given there are only two national titles to be won each year, it is important to seize the opportunity when it’s presented.
Winning the league becomes only a footnote for the leading counties if they fail to make the desired impression in the championship but, conversely, it can be a very important stepping stone on the road to greater riches when the stakes become much higher.
Clare last season, Limerick a couple of times in their four-in-a-row All-Ireland years and Kilkenny in their glory days built successfully on the experience of winning the secondary competition and now it’s Cork’s turn to try and replicate that.
Sunday’s emphatic victory over Tipperary ticked a number of boxes, the end of a losing sequence in finals and a…