Although Kilkenny reversed the result of last year's All-Ireland final against Cork, the exercise was more about examining the potency of the current squad than exacting revenge for last September, according to manager Brian Cody.

"Well, given the pairings, it will be said that the match gave us some form of retribution for the All-Ireland but the reality is that only seven of last year's All-Ireland team were playing yesterday," he reasoned.

While Jimmy Barry Murphy made just one amendment to the team which had beaten Kilkenny in the All-Ireland, Cody went with a a fairly novel line-up. Willie O'Connor, Pat O'Neill, Canice Brennan and Charlie Carter were among the list of All-Star absentees in Nowlan Park. But replacements such as Sean Meally and Johnny Moore emphasised the abundance of senior talent in the county.

"All the lads who came in acquitted themselves very well and enhanced their claims for places down the road. There is a strong panel and it is great to see the options available to us. We have everyone back in training right now and while there has always been a healthy competition for places, we are just setting out again. You can't have a situation where there is too much pressure on players too early. It's a question of striking the right balance.

"Yesterday was partly about younger players showing their ability and for the seven lads who played in the All-Ireland, well, the pain would have been still there and naturally they would have been very motivated at the thought of playing Cork."

One of the most dignified and thoughtful figures in the game today, Cody accepted last year's defeat with typical understatement but admitted it was a relief to be hurling during lengthening evenings once again.

"Well, I mean, we are mad for the game down here and while there was an acute disappointment involved with last year, the weeks go by and you start to think about the next season and before too long, you feel as though you have had enough of a break.

So the spring has returned to our steps all right." Sunday's match in Kilkenny crackled with sufficient skill to make a resumption of championship rivalries seem like an imminent inevitability. Isn't it so often the case though, that while early league games often hint at a vintage programme in store, the competition often just peters into near irrelevancy by the time the play-offs come around?

"I can understand why that is said and it is slightly unfortunate," said Cody.

"Sometimes, you have teams who have no chance of going on or whatever and they don't have the same interest as they entered the competition with. Or, as with last year's final between Tipperary and Clare, the championship is so close at hand that by then, there can only be one focal point for both teams. But the league remains the second most important competition. It's not as if players don't care about winning games during it, as was demonstrated on Sunday."

Meanwhile, Offaly goalkeeper Stephen Byrne will resume training this week despite leaving the field against Galway on Sunday with a facial injury. The match, a free-scoring affair was played in deplorable conditions and Byrne took a knock to the face early in the second half.

"Stephen received a number of stitches but he's fine, he'll be back this week and available for Sunday," said Offaly PRO Pat Teehan.

The fate of Longford's Enda Barden and Westmeath's John Cooney, who were both sent off in the O'Byrne Cup final earlier in the month, will be decided at tonight's Leinster Council meeting.

While Conway will probably have to serve a month's suspension for barging into an opposing player during a pause in play, Barden's indiscretion may prove more costly.

The Longford midfielder was red-carded for swinging his boot at his opposite number, Rory O'Connell. Such an offence automatically carries a three month punishment. There is also a possibility that Westmeath manager Brendan Lowry will be called before the meeting to account for his pitch encroachment during the game. During a particularly tempestuous sequence of events, Lowry came onto the field to remonstrate with referee Gay McCabe.

The referee duly warned him to remain in the dug-out but whether he stressed this in his report remains to be seen.