FAILURE to field a team for their opening two games suggested that Cork were likely to be hardpressed to qualify for the knock-out stages of the National Hurling League last season. But it was by no means an impossible task, given that the aborted fixtures were against Kilkenny and Waterford.

They would have been regarded as the most difficult assignments on Cork's league programme, and it would have been very hard to make up the lost ground had the sequence of games in Division 1A been structured differently. As it was, the hurlers returned to action following a resolution to last year's dispute with the County Board to face Dublin, Antrim and Wexford in turn in the league.

And it was hardly surprising that they managed to collect maximum points from those games which, with three qualifying places up for grabs in the six-team group, ensured that they enjoyed an extended league run last season. It included a play-off against Waterford to decide second and third placings in the group, a quarter-final clash with Limerick, and a semifinal encounter with Galway.

So, Cork played a total of six games in last season's league, and, in view of their belated start, it was a very satisfactory campaign, despite their elimination by Galway at the penultimate stage. Cork will be involved in the league from the outset this season, but that's where the good news ends in view of the dark cloud hanging over the hurling landscape on Leeside at the moment.

To say that their chances of making an impact are remote would be a gross understatement, because it seems as if they will be without all 30 members of the 2008 squad, who are refusing to play under Gerald McCarthy again. They weren't happy with McCarthy's performance as team manager over the past two seasons, and they had been hoping that the County Board would comply with their desire for a change.

Despite being made aware of their misgivings, the Board reappointed McCarthy, and a bitter row has ensued, with McCarthy and the players trading verbal blows with such ferocity that the scars inflicted will probably never heal. The players have called on the club and the Cork supporters to back them in the fight, hoping to pressurise the Board into revisiting the management issue. As things stand, however, the Board are fully behind McCarthy, who has made it abundantly clear that he has no intention of stepping down, and has been pressing ahead with his preparations for the league with a completely new set of players.

Whether the situation will change before the league has run its course remains to be seen, but the reality is that the striking players won't return while McCarthy remains at the helm, and there is no sign of a quick resolution to the crisis.

Over the past few weeks, the new-look Cork side have played a number of challenge games, and, predictably, the results haven't been encouraging. And it's generally accepted that what is effectively a third string, and considering that many players outside of the 2008 squad have declined an invitation to join McCarthy's new panel possibly even a fourth string Cork outfit will be very much out of their depth in the league.

It's a harrowing time for Cork hurling, and the long-term consequences of the conflict don't bear thinking about. The league has been revamped this year, and, after the preliminary rounds have been completed, the top two teams in Division 1 will go straight through to the final. What is likely to be of greater concern to Cork, however, is that the bottom two teams will be relegated to Division 2.

Were Cork to be demoted, and the odds are that they will, it would mean that the amount of games they will play against quality opposition in next season's league could easily be counted on one hand, making it very difficult for the team to get fully sharpened up for the subsequent championship.

Not that they are likely to be serious contenders anyway should the striking players opt to remain out in the cold for the entire season ahead. Cork will play their opening game in the league against Dublin at Pairc Ui Chaoimh next Sunday. It would be expecting too much of the Cork neophytes to win the match, but the hope is that they can give a reasonably good account of themselves against opposition that isn't numbered among hurling's current elite, and will be missing David O'Callaghan, a key forward who has been recruited by the Dublin footballers this year.

But one shudders to think what Tipperary will have in store for them the following weekend in Thurles. Competing against Galway, Clare, Limerick and Waterford won't be a whole lot easier, while anyone of a queasy disposition would be well advised to steer clear of Nowlan Park when Cork square up to the Cats on April 5.

Maybe there will have been developments before then which would facilitate the return of the 2008 panel, but if not the season is virtually guaranteed to be a complete write-off from a Cork perspective.