Need to keep her steady as she goes.

2 CORK (-1) Players out Brian Corcoran (retired), Pat Mulcahy (considering retirement) Player to watch Teenage forward Pa Cronin They mightn't have made the appointment in the right manner but the Cork county board appointed the right man. As intuitive as John Allen was, an undetected staleness set in last year. The players needed more games in training, something other than that Inches speech playing on the bus, and yes, at times to be more direct, changes Gerald McCarthy will make while having the intelligence to avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Once more they're the one side that wouldn't benefit from reaching a league "nal, given they'll have to win six games this summer to win the All Ireland through the frontdoor, but this is the most important league they've had since unearthing Setanta, Curran and Kenny in 2003.

Need to find another half forward, get the ball quicker into Joe Deane and realise they need to replace Corcoran the leader as much as Corcoran the full forward

3 WATERFORD (+2) Players out Paul Flynn (injured for league) Player to watch Kenny Stafford For ages now Flynn and Co have been right to quell the notion that any given year is the year. Not this N28 year. This has to be the year; Feeney, Browne, Bennett and Justin will hardly be there next year and Flynn mightn't be back at all.

Need to play some fringe players in the league and allow them the odd poor game or spell, find another goalscoring option to Dan The Man and Flynn, and stop deluding themselves that they can afford to forsake another Munster "nal.

4 CLARE (no change) Players out Sean McMahon, Brian Lohan (both retired), Davy Fitzgerald (? ) Player to watch forward Bernard Gaffney Have been the second-most consistent league team of the past "ve years but this year they might cough up a few points and wins while blooding some new players.

Need to find a new central defensive spine, and, with the way Tony C is trying to make friends and in"uence people, win Munster

5 GALWAY (-3) Players out Ollie Canning (retired), Andrew Keary, David Hayes Player to watch John Lee "When Loughnane announced that he'd be culling the panel after Christmas, Galway people didn't realise he meant it literally, " one Tribune-reading Galwegian asserts.

We think he's joking. So Ger did have an ulterior motive when quizzing Cyril Farrell in the immediate aftermath of the All Ireland quarter"nal defeat in Thurles last July as to the latter's idea of the best full-back and centre-back in the county (Ger Mahon and John Lee, Farrell responded).

Need to start well and take it from there

6 TIPPERARY (+1) Players out John O'Brien (injured), Damien Young, John Devane, Shane McDermott, Michael Ryan Player to watch Danny O'Hanlon Distinct feelgood factor about the place following the exploits last year of a really good minor team and a really gutsy under-21 team, even if the likeliest of these young lads can't be expected to bloom overnight. As ever, finding another pair of shoulders to share the attacking weight with Eoin Kelly remains the priority. Interesting to see how Danny O'Hanlon, who made an impression in the All Ireland under-21 saga with his hard-to-mark bustling style, fares in the number 14 shirt today.

Need to produce a big performance at Nowlan Park on 4 March

7 LIMERICK (-1) Players out TJ Ryan (retired) Player to watch Peter Lawlor Starting off with a couple of feathers added to their cap following the return of Peter Lawlor, who was less than an ass's roar away from an All Star the season before last, and Sean O'Connor, who on his best days dating back to 2001 gave the attack a degree of cutting and a quota of goals nobody else managed. Serious training began last month following a pre-Christmas weights programme.

We're not expecting sophistication from Limerick in the short term. We are expecting honest, uncomplicated endeavour.

Need to avoid defeat against at least one of the other three leading teams in the group

8 WEXFORD (no change) Players out Darragh Ryan, Paul Codd (both retired), Redmond Barry (football only) Player to watch Full back Richie Keogh John Meyler's previous senior inter-county involvement might have finished acrimoniously (Cork. Mark Landers. "Have a good look around?") but he's made a good first impression in Wexford. They were crying out for discipline and Meyler has delivered it. The kids are getting their chance while apparently Damien Fitzhenry has lost a stone and Rory McCarthy is buzzing in midfield.

Need to get back to the league playoffs for the "rst time since '96 and/or avoid getting hammered; that spring habit has become a summer habit

9 OFFALY (+1) Players out Brian Whelahan (retired), Joe Brady, Michael Cordial, Brian Mullins, Stephen Browne, Damien Murray (all out of favour), David Franks, Mike O'Hara, Dylan Hayden (opted out) Player to watch Derek Molloy Strange. We actually thought they made progress last year. Yes, there was a lapse in concentration and belief when teams went ahead of them during the summer but that required more a change in mindset than personnel. John McIntyre obviously felt personnel and mindset are inseparable. Thirteen of last year's panel have been culled.

Brave call. As Brian Whelahan said last Thursday, "How do you start a long-term project on what's probably your own last year?" And wasn't it only four years ago that Cordial, Mullins and Murray were the future?

Need to believe an All Ireland quarter-final is there for them

10 ANTRIM (+2) Players out Johnny McIntosh (injured) Player to watch Neil McManus Joint managers of a fine crop of minors for the past two years, Sambo McNaughton and Woody McKinley attempt to bring their mojo to the adult arena. The fixture list, which has handed them trips to Galway and Tipperary, could have been kinder. Logic says it'll be a difficult debut season. But logic also says that if any men can take Antrim to the next level, it's this pair.

Need to beat Dublin

11 DUBLIN (promoted) Players out None Player to watch John McCaffrey Back in Division 1 and bound to be in reasonable heart after seeing off Westmeath in the McCarthy Cup relegation decider in Tullamore last July. Four of the successful 2005 minor team are given their heads today. One hopes it's not a case of hobbits into Mordor.

Need to get Diarmuid Connolly away from the footballers, but unfortunately that ain't gonna happen

12 DOWN (-3) Players out Paul Braniff (cruciate), Gary Savage (retired), Stephen Clarke, Simon Wilson Player to watch Gareth Johnson Will hardly maintain their Division One status, considering both management and the county board's lackadaisical approach to the league; last Thursday night was the first time all season they could secure a pitch for a collective onfield hurling session. If the board and management dream big enough though, they'll rattle both Ulster and the Christy Ring Cup.