Mostly Hurling:It's hats, flags and colours time again. Championship season is with us.

Laois and Offaly followers will make their way to O'Connor Park for their local derby. There is pressure on Offaly and their manager, John McIntyre, to deliver a faith-restoring performance.

I know from speaking to some Offaly supporters there is much apprehension about this game. There is a feeling in some areas of the county that too many players have been dropped over the past year and that they lack a settled team.

The management, however, have to have standards and if players are not prepared to conform then what are management to do? They are in a no-win situation. Based on recent history - a history that saw Offaly winning three of the last four significant games between these counties - they will be expected to win.

Offaly's recent form has been poor enough, though they did beat Waterford in the league. They conceded six goals against Limerick in the recent Division One play-off having played quite well in the first half. Right now there is little between the sides.

Winning for Offaly will take the public pressure off for a few weeks. But winning will also land them in the big cats' den (as the winners play Kilkenny in the semi-final) and inevitable failure.

On the other hand, while a win for Laois will land them in the same feline lair, it would be a huge psychological victory for them.

But Laois too have their problems, the major one being an excessive dependency on James Young to do the scoring. His exploits in this context are well documented. He scored 12 points out of 1-13 in their recent promotion play-off with Limerick. The Tinnahinch player is invaluable to the team.

An off day or an injury to Young and Laois's chances would be considerably diminished. But with other talented youngsters like Cahir Healy, Shane Dollard, Matthew Whelan and John Brophy in the panel, they can at least look toward the longer term with some optimism.

The one real advantage I can see out of the game for the winners is that they will get to play the All-Ireland champions and from that game they will see how far off the pace they are. Teams can only really evaluate themselves by playing the top teams and that, for now, means playing Kilkenny, Waterford or Cork.

Because of Laois's overreliance on Young and the fact they played in Division Two in this year's league I expect Offaly will win.

The hurling public eagerly awaited the clash of Cork and Clare last year. The game was supposed to allow the Bannermen to prove their defeat by Cork in the 2004 semi-final was daylight robbery, which it probably was, and that the better team lost on the day. But we all know about the scoreboard at the final whistle.

Last year the scoreboard showed Cork ahead again. Prior to that game many pundits were of the opinion Cork would be beaten by Clare but would certainly be in the shake-up come mid-August.

We had other ideas though. We probably played our best hurling of the year in the first half of that game. Clare just could not live with our pace and intensity. Later in the year, of course, we could not live with Kilkenny's intensity.

This year the same teams meet but the horizon has changed considerably. Clare have lost the backbone of their team. They have a new manager and backroom team.

Cork have also lost a few players but not on the same scale as Clare. They also have a new manager and backroom team.

But that seems to be where the similarities end. Clare have been making headlines in the press but for all the wrong reasons. Tony Considine has certainly had a baptism of fire. Early rumours of defections and a stand-off with his star ex-goalkeeper and recent reports of a motion of no confidence have occupied his time off the field. A mixed league campaign did not help his cause.

The last six weeks might have been more harmonious if they had beaten Cork in their last league game. This was a game they should have won. They probably had three-quarters of the possession but that dreaded scoreboard had them second again at the final whistle.

A victory then would have taken the pressure off. But in a strange way maybe Clare are now in the best possible position to do well on Sunday.

From the point of view of the Clare management that seems the ideal position to be in. Considering all the rumblings coming out of the camp and the loss of so many key players there is hardly any great expectation within the county, or outside, that the team could possibly win this game.

Cork, too had a mixed league but had a game against Waterford where they showed enough to convince they should be a force again this season.

So it seems as if we have one team caught up in internal storms against another who have settled into the ways of the past few years.

The attendance in Thurles on Sunday will probably reflect what the man and woman in the street think of the game. I don't expect more than 25,000 to make the journey to the home of hurling.

But this is championship.

A win on Sunday is obviously important to both sides but it's far more important for Clare. It would vindicate Tony Considine's strong stand and allow him and his management to do what they were elected to do for the rest of the season.

I just don't think, however, that they have a strong-enough panel or enough experience on the field to win this one.

Afterthought: Whatever game we attend or watch on television on Sunday I hope we do not see referees stopping play to allow players retie bootlaces.