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6. Robert Byrne Rating: 7/10 A surprise return to the panel for Robert Byrne continues to breed opportunities as Liam Cahill gave the U21 All-Ireland winner another chance last Saturday. After his rash red card against Waterford in the Munster Hurling League, there would have been a fear that he wasted his chance to impress, but Cahill seems to be a fan of the Portroe and he repaid the faith as he returned a solid effort at six against the Dubs. Didn't do anything flashy but moved possession on well and held the position solidly throughout. There will be bigger tests and it could be coming up quickly with Galway coming to Thurles on Sunday. Did well.
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7. Conor Bowe Rating: 7/10 Bowe looks to be settling in quickly to the wing-back role and had another assured performance to add to the Munster Hurling League efforts last month. He is still feeling his way into the play from the half-back line but he does look the part and his forays from deep are proving to be very useful indeed, with the Moyne Templetuohy man getting on the scoresheet again with a first-half point. His attacking prowess is undoubted so far, but he looked solid going back the other direction too but again, the experiment will be deemed a success or otherwise down the line after facing top opposition.in
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8. Willie Connors Rating: 8/10 Like Byrne, Connors returns to the squad for this campaign and he certainly did his chances no harm of featuring going forward. In a dominant midfield performance with Eoghan Connolly, he went through a mountain of work and he is more than willing to do the donkey work for the team in that battle zone in the middle third. He is a savage hurler to go with that attitude and he played a gorgeous pass oevr the top to Jake Morris for the second goal. He is a welcomed addition back to the squad.
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9. Eoghan Connolly Rating: 8/10 Connolly looks to be cherishing his recent outings at midfield and the move looks to be a good one so far, as he put in a good performance on Saturday. He has been used at corner and wing-back out of necessity in recent years, but he has shown - and did so again on Saturday - that he can be a big scoring threat from the middle of the par as he hit 0-2 in the game. He looks to have put in a lot of size and added more pace to his game in the winter months and he covered a lot of ground and got onto a lot of possession in the game. He looks like giving Cahill another option in the middle which is no bad thing.