THE thunderclap that emanated from Semple Stadium on Sunday will have reverberated throughout every hurling county in the country. Cork have turned the championship on its head in week one, and this is good for them, good for hurling and could ultimately be good for Tipp!

As we head into week two, it will also have concentrated minds even more in Kilkenny, Galway, Wexford, Clare, Limerick, Dublin and Waterford – the qualifiers looking fraught, with the All-Ireland champions already consigned there.

So this Sunday in Tullamore has another edge to it. And this is exactly what we wanted from the hurling championship. We have Cork and their incredible performance to thank for that.

So, Galway are next into the arena with the overwhelming favourites tag hanging from their necks. Lightning can hardly strike twice in seven days can it?

Galway are without doubt the most consistent hurling team bar Kilkenny over the past five or six years and while their supporters might throw their eyes to heaven at that statement, it is based on facts.

Galway have lost to the All-Ireland champions the last four years in a row. Galway folk mightn’t like the stat, but their Mayo neighbours are very familiar with it. Like it or not that is consistency!

Last week I would have fancied the Dubs to be closer to Galway than the Rebels were to Tipp, but clearly that is now out the window.

That would have been based on the Tribesmens’s usual slow start to championship, the comedown from the league high and Dublin having little to lose. Some of that might still apply.

Ger Cunningham will surely be telling his team that the Cork attitude is the one they need to bring to O’Connor Park. Total commitment and a willingness to leave every last drop on the field from the Dubs would guarantee another cracker.

I saw up close just what Galway can do to teams physically in the Gaelic Grounds in late April, but Dublin don’t shy away from that intensity. If anything they like it like that. Where they could struggle however is in their forward line, where scoring big totals has been beyond them in recent times.

Their aim will be to drag Galway into a battle, one that sees Liam Rushe rule the roost at centre back, defying the Galway backs to get the ball past him to the inside line. The only flaw in that plan of course is the likelihood that Joe Canning will be wearing the number eleven jersey. Sweeping might be Rushe’s game, but if you leave Canning to his own devices, he can kill you.

Jason Flynn, Conor Whelan and Cathal Mannion are predators too, none of them light, all in form, so Galway have plenty of game winners in their forward line these days that aren’t named Joe. Whelan burst on to the scene two years ago just out of minor, he is a different animal now, having strengthened up considerably. He is a guy that looks primed to have a huge year.

So too does full back Daithí Burke who was majestic in the league final. A problem position in recent times, Burke is a current and future All-Star. To break Galway down teams will have to start with Burke. That’s a tall order.

Naturally the Dublin fifteen that takes the field are proud men who will give everything for their county, but only four of them lined out against the same opposition in 2013.

Far too many of their then team mates have been lost to the panel, with both Schutte brothers merely the latest in a long line to opt out.

While the Dubs cannot dwell on that this week, I get the feeling that a lot of them will come next Monday night. Galway to emerge easily enough in the end.

For reasons best known to the Leinster Council, Sunday’s other hurling clash takes place down the road in Portlaoise when Wexford make their seasonal bow against Laois. Surely a double header could have been accommodated?

Regardless, Wexford, following their spring heroics are the strong favourites in a game that sees the home side already having three championship games under their belts. We might see a contest here for long periods, and the scare would be ideal for the Yellowbellies ahead of facing Kilkenny.

They’ll come through, but not that impressively. Davy will see plenty to work on from the stands!

Big ball

On the football front Cork, Clare, Westmeath and Leitrim should advance, with the real football clash of the weekend in Celtic Park on Sunday when Derry and Tyrone will surely tear strips off each other.

In Ulster championship games like that, the last team standing are usually Tyrone and that should be the case again.

Munster look to end traumatic season on a high

The Irish club/provincial campaign ends this weekend in the Aviva Stadium when Munster will hopefully claim the Pro-12 title, thus ending a year they will never forget. Their incredibly difficult season simply must end with victory over the Scarlets. Defeat is unthinkable.

Munster’s last trophy was in this competition back in 2011. That’s a long time without a cup for a province with the ambition, support and squad that Munster possess.

The loss of Anthony Foley changed everything late last year and I suspect that this title will bring a cathartic response, once of course it is won. We should see a steely focus about the Munster team – winning rugby rather than crowd pleasing stuff. They will be wearing non-traditional navy jerseys but they’ll be traditional in every other way.

They will grind down Scarletts, starting with the pack first, box kicks second and points on the board at every opportunity.

Munster must win, Munster will win. Then come the final whistle expect the release of a torrent of emotions. It has been a very long year, please let it end well.