Patrick Horgan: An unwanted meeting? No, a final is perfect for silverware and last tweaks
LEAGUE CHAMPS: Cork captain Robert Downey, Patrick Horgan, with his son Jack, and the cup after the Allianz Hurling League Division 1A final in 2025. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.
I still think it was a mistake to have the league finals as a double-header, not least because it’s unfair to Dublin.
It’s a home game for Limerick, practically a home game for Clare, and not too inconvenient for Cork either. But for Dublin? Their supporters have to travel an hour and a half.
That’s not being fair to them - or to the game itself, come to that. It’s a national final and shouldn’t be used almost as a curtain-raiser: there’ll be people coming in for Limerick-Cork in dribs and drabs even as the first game, Dublin-Clare, is being played, which is completely unfair.
As for the Limerick-Cork game, it’s going to be interesting to see how the teams line up on the day, because both of them have plenty of options available.
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Take the Cork half-forward line - Diarmuid Healy is out for a couple of weeks, which is a blow because he offers pace and scoring power and is improving all the time, but Ben O’Connor isn’t short of possibilities here - Darragh Fitzgibbon, Shane Barrett, Seamus Harnedy, Shane Kingston, Hugh O’Connor, William Buckley, Declan Dalton, Robbie O’Flynn. Picking three players from that bunch is going to be a challenge.
Cork will expect a lot from whatever combination they put in the half-forward line, because they need to ask questions of the Limerick defence and to create space for the full-forward line. It’ll be interesting to see if Paudie Power figures up top for Cork, having come on against Offaly: he was flying before getting injured last year.
Whoever Cork pick in the full-forward line will have their hands full, because John Kiely isn’t short of options either on the Limerick side. When you stand back and look at the lads he can put in the Limerick full-back line he has Sean Finn, Dan Morrissey, Barry Nash, Mike Casey, and Matthew Fitzgerald to draw on.
One choice that particularly interests me is who John decides to put in at centre-back. Will O’Donoghue has done well there for Limerick all through the league, but I think Kyle Hayes might be a better option for them. As I said about Rob Downey with Cork, when the opposition centre-back is that big it becomes an issue for your defenders delivering the ball upfield, because they literally can’t see the full-forwards beyond him.
Kyle’s so quick and strong that he helps his team defending and attacking, but to me putting him in at number six means he can offer more to the team; good as he is at wing-back, when he’s playing there opponents can keep the ball away from him and just play the other wing. That can keep him out of the game, whereas obviously from centre-back it’s easier to cover the two wings.
A player that Cork supporters may be interested in seeing is Barry Walsh, who was very good for us with the U20s last Wednesday evening in Páirc Uí Chaoimh - he ended the game against Limerick with 2-9. Barry’s a strong, quick youngster, and he’ll be well able for two games in just under a week, but anyone thinking it might be too much for a player needs to understand how they prepare. It’s likely that some of the lads with the senior team did more physical work in a training session early in the week than Barry did in that game, because a lot of them would be hitting max effort in training that early in the week of a game.
The recent history between these teams in big games suggests there won’t be much in it. A misplaced free or two might make a difference, for instance, and there’s an interesting comparison to be made here. I expect Cork to start with Alan Connolly on frees, but Darragh Fitzgibbon is another possibility - he has good memories of free-taking in the Gaelic Grounds given the equaliser he got in the Munster final there last year.
With Limerick that’s a bit more clear-cut. Aidan O’Connor is a class act from play, but he’s also the kind of free-taker who averages nine, nine-and-a-half out of ten. Even if he has an off-day Aaron Gillane is inside in the full-forward line - not a bad alternative!
I’ve heard people in Cork describe tomorrow’s game, and the Munster Championship game in two weeks’ time against Tipperary - and Limerick a week after that again - in very negative terms. It’s been described to me as the toughest run of games any hurling team has this year, but there’s another way to look at those fixtures.
First, tomorrow’s game is a final and a chance to win silverware, and qualifying for it shows that Cork are going well; if they hadn’t made the final it would have been a downer and people would be asking questions about the team’s character. What situation would most Cork supporters prefer?
Also, the fact that Cork are playing a competitive game two weeks out from their championship opener isn’t necessarily a negative. If they weren’t in the league final they’d be trying to get a challenge game against Galway or Kilkenny or some other team this weekend anyway. And the chances of a picking up an injury in a game like that are just the same as they are tomorrow in the Gaelic Grounds.
Last, if something doesn’t work for Cork in the league final they’ll have a chance to remedy that in the championship: same for Limerick. They might not say it out loud but while both management teams will want to win, they’ll also be looking to use the game to make some last improvements for the championship.
Every team is looking to improve by a few percentage points in every game they play, and tomorrow is another chance for Limerick and Cork to do that.
That doesn’t mean it’ll be easy for Cork. It won’t - it’s going to be a tough few weeks, but these players are so well prepared physically now that they’ll be more than ready for that.
And there’s plenty of pressure on Tipperary as well, don’t forget: they’re going to want to show that last year was no fluke, so they’re putting a huge focus on that Munster Championship game.
Tipp have won the league games they’ve had to win, but without getting their full team on the field together, while Cork have had a couple of chances to do just that, against Offaly and tomorrow against Limerick. Sending out your first 15 doesn’t necessarily mean everything clicks automatically, particularly if they haven’t played together for a while, but that’s something we’ll touch on in due course.
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