From the Sultans of Ping to the Sultans of Pong

Don't miss Enda McEvoy's analysis of the demise of Cork hurling in Saturday's Examiner Sport.

In his column previewing tomorrow night's Allianz League clash with Kilkenny, Enda McEvoy wonders how it is Cork seems to have fallen so adrift of hurling's powerbrokers.

"Is there a case to be made for holding that the strikes took up so much time and energy as to have made them take their eye off the ball? That they’ve ignored the game’s tidal shifts is unquestionable.

"Hurling has changed rapidly in short order because of Cody, Davy Fitz and Derek McGrath. They’ve all done their bit to reduce – thankfully it will never quite be removed – the randomness of the sport. That guff about winning one’s own position and getting it on to the next man went out with the Ark. Kilkenny and Waterford, the market leaders, do not defend as individuals, or even in lines, but as cohorts and wolf packs.

"The grid has been torn up, lines have become nominal and many of the traditional positional requirements have been rendered either obsolete or changed beyond recognition. Have Cork not noticed this or have they simply not been bothered to devise some form of counter-measure?

"Believing that their own Corkness would see them through? Because it always had?"

Read the rest of Enda's analysis in tomorrow's Examiner Sport.