Kingston says Rebels wary of Wexford
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
For the second successive week, Cork will be strong favourites against Leinster opposition in the All-Ireland qualifiers as yesterday’s draw pitted them against Wexford.
But Cork selector Kieran Kingston insists they will not be complacent in Semple Stadium. "We can’t control the fact that we’re favourites," he says. "Saturday night’s game against Offaly showed you can’t take anything for granted, and the Galway-Kilkenny game was a further illustration of that.
"Looking at our match will give great heart to Wexford as they should have beaten Offaly in the Leinster semi-final, and Ollie Baker said afterwards Offaly had felt they could challenge us as we were a young and inexperienced side. Definitely, if there was any complacency in the camp, it’s gone after Saturday night."
The Offaly win also points to a character within the young Cork side, however, as they showed impressive maturity to respond after their opponents had overturned a half-time deficit to lead early in the second half.
"We were delighted with how the lads did," Kingston says. "What we’ve been trying to do all year is build a competitive panel, there were fellas who did well for us up until the league final and now other guys who didn’t play at all in the league have come in and done well.
"There are 34 players in the panel and there’s some great competition for places. We feel there’s a good blend.
"Take Christopher Joyce for example, he hadn’t started a competitive match for Cork before Saturday but he really got into the game."
Joyce slotted in at centre-back as Eoin Cadogan opted to play for Cork footballers in the Munster final. Cadogan will be available again while Niall McCarthy is fully over the hand injury which prevented him starting against Tipperary and Offaly.
* Tickets are available online at gaa.ie, and at selected Centra/SuperValu stores in Cork and Wexford. Tickets will also be on sale on Thursday night from 6-8pm at Páirc Uí Rinn.