Anthony Daly: Pat Ryan wouldn't pull the handbrake so why were Cork so flat?

I was primed for Cork-Kilkenny on Sunday but any of that giddiness was soon sapped out of me. It was flat, tepid, like warm beer in high summer

REACH: Kilkenny’s Alan Murphy and Ciarán Joyce of Cork. Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Driving home from the Gaelic Grounds on Saturday evening, I was giddy with excitement about the end to the league and how much it had whetted my appetite four weeks out from the championship. I was primed for Cork-Kilkenny Sunday but any of that giddiness was soon sapped out of me. It was flat, tepid, like warm beer in high summer.

Pat Ryan is too decent and honourable a man to pull up the handbrake. You could see Pat’s frustration at stages when the TV cameras panned to him but you’d wonder if what happened on Saturday evening in Limerick got into the heads of some Cork players? Are they better to be picking up the small pieces this week than trying to put it all back together in two weeks if Limerick smashed Cork into smithereens?