The 2021 GAA season is back and finally fans can feel some sense of normalcy return. It may be a truncated League this year but what an opening hurling fixture to whet the appetite between reigning champions, Limerick, and the team most eager to prove a point against them, Tipperary.

Previewing the Allianz Hurling Leagues, Will Slattery and Michael Verney were joined by Vincent Hogan and John Mullane who assess the teams and players to watch out for and why.

For Vincent Hogan, Limerick v Tipp is an important game for both teams to lay down a marker, but for Tipperary especially.

“Over the last couple of years, there's no doubt about it that Limerick have had their number and they've had their number quite comfortably and I think that's a big thing for Liam Sheedy going into this. Saturday night is a big enough game because he's got to convince his own players that they can match Limerick.”

For John Mullane meanwhile, he’s keeping an eye on Wexford, Dublin and Cork, the teams that under-performed in the Championship last year, particularly Cork.

“They need to have a good League campaign. They need to build up a level of consistency where they're consistent in performance and I think if they're consistent in performance, I think the results will come. Of the five games Kieran Kingston will be targeting will probably be winning three to four of those matches and then bringing it into the Championship.”

For more from the Throw-In podcast go to:
www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-throw-in/

The Throw-In podcast is in association with Allianz.ie.

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