A team that has developed a welcome winning habit over the past two seasons won't be too despondent with a January defeat as Tipperary hurlers approach a new season with fresh optimism.

Defending champions Clare travelled to Borrisoleigh for a Waterford Crystal Cup meeting with the hosts last Tuesday night week (January 26) and left for home with a two-point victory.

For Clare, this was a repeat success of last year's final victory against Tipperary in this competition but the Banner County won't need reminding of the season that unfolded for them thereafter.

Tipperary, in contrast, went on to contest National League and All-Ireland finals and successfully defended their Munster championship in a 2009 season which represented further progress under manager Liam Sheedy.

While Clare have endured a winter of discontent, with a very public dispute between players and management leading to the departure of Mike McNamara, Sheedy and his backroom team have been quietly plotting a fresh assault on major honours.

It now appears that Tipp are clear in second place in the pecking order behind NHL and All-Ireland champions Kilkenny but that's no guarantee that Sheedy and his players will reach heady heights again in the coming months.

Already, goalkeeper Brendan Cummins has warned that an even bigger effort is needed this year and the Munster championship meeting with Cork at the end of May is an extremely difficult assignment.

If Tipperary are to win a third successive Munster championship crown, they'll have to do it the hard way with a rejuvenated Cork, Davy Fitzgerald's Waterford and a Clare team infused with fresh optimism all looking to knock the champions off their perch.

Quite how the Limerick situation will pan out over the coming weeks is anybody's guess but educated observers believe that the county's big guns will be back in situ by the summer time.

And bearing in mind that Limerick suffered acute embarrassment at the hands of Tipperary in last year's All-Ireland semi-final, and with a major point to prove following the stand-off with Justin McCarthy, they are also dangerous opposition.

Factor Galway and Kilkenny into the championship equation, along with an emerging Offaly and a Wexford team boosted by the return of long-term injury absentees, and it's clear to see that we have a 2010 All-Ireland SHC to savour.

For Tipperary, nothing less than the Liam MacCarthy cup will suffice and of course, those levels of expectation bring their own inherent pressures.

But as Cummins pointed out in an interview last weekend, there were times in recent years when Tipperary players went out not expecting to win games and therefore, these new levels of expectation are positive.

For Cummins, the game against Clare was his first outing wearing a helmet, as is now obligatory under new GAA rules in force since January 1.