Seánie McGrath: No revenge or statements of intent, this was simply a great start for Rebels
WINNING FEELING: Cork manager Ben O'Connor celebrates with Darragh Fitzgibbon. Pic: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile.
FOR CORK, a great Championship start. Not a season-defining start. Not even a statement start because everyone knows Cork are going to be there or thereabouts. Sunday, in Thurles, was just a great start.
The big picture doesn’t always need to be in play. We don’t always need to take a result and try and interpret what it means either for further up the road or, indeed, old roads not fully travelled.
And so, whatever about the disappointment of last year’s All-Ireland final or the aspirations to go and win this year’s one, this was Ben O’Connor first championship game as Cork senior hurling manager.
He and everyone else knew there was significant pressure on him going in, as there was for his selectors, his right-hand man, Ronan Curran, who has been very loyal to him over the years, and the entire backroom set-up.
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Because of such, I’d imagine they put the feet up for a little bit last night and said to themselves, that was a job well done. A very satisfying job well done.
For those on the pitch, there was reassurance in the great start. Given how the levels of a couple of experienced guys dropped in the League final, they might have been saying to themselves over the past fortnight, ‘I hope I am not losing a yard’ or ‘I hope a lack of appetite isn’t subconsciously creeping in’. But I thought they were outstanding. So for them, the great start is a tonic.
If Cork had lost, off the back of the league final, two losses would have been big-ish for confidence and morale in the camp. But they now face into a short week of training where there will be a real buzz and zip to what they do below in the Páirc.
It was really obvious in the last quarter, when they went as far as nine ahead, how an almost relief came into their play. They started to hurl with familiar swagger. That’s how you want them expressing themselves.
I noted that Brian Hayes’ first possession didn’t arrive until the 22nd minute. And unless I am mistaken, Alan Connolly’s first clean possession didn’t arrive until his opening point two minutes earlier.
On another day, you’d expect Cork to be in trouble off the back of such limited involvement from the main inside pair, but with midfield and, particularly, the half-forward line going so well, they were able to get away without Hayes and Connolly getting much hand on ball.
That's testament to the likes of Darragh Fitzgibbon and Shane Barrett. Darragh had six shots and four points inside 11 minutes. He was causing complete wreck. He also couldn’t sustain that level of point-taking. But it was a phenomenal couple of minutes.
At times you were saying get it inside, but there was so much success coming from the accuracy, energy, and pace of both Barrett and Fitzgibbon. Ben obviously wanted Cork playing that way and taking their scores, as opposed to chasing something bigger.
Barry Walsh, from an okay-ish start, thundered into the game. No matter what kind of forward you are, be it a creator, finisher, or worker, there is no better medicine than slotting the sliotar over the bar. When Barry got his first score, he looked a different player from then on.
The other debutant, William Buckley, I’ve been championing him for a while. And that’s not being smart after the event; I have the old columns to prove it! Really like his movement. Unbelievable scores, wonderful link-play. Had Mikey Breen in the horrors for long periods. He is exactly what Cork need. Everything about him was top, top class.
No better than Ben, though, to get the man of the match back into training today or tomorrow and say, back to square one again William.
The winning of the game was obviously that eight-in-a-row third-quarter sequence. It was Tim O’Mahony’s long-range free that put Cork ahead here, and it was so important for Tim, mentally, to nail that free having missed three in the first-half. It did his and Cork’s confidence a great deal to see that free go over.
On the Tipp side, what went wrong is very much correctable. Same as for Cork and their victory, there was nothing season-defining for Tipp in defeat.
If I was Liam Cahill, I’d probably have been a little annoyed at the 0-13 apiece interval scoreline given the uncharacteristic wides they had hit, including three from Jake Morris.
Further uncharacteristic in the second-half was Mikey Breen catching the sliotar three times coming out of defence. It gifted Alan Connolly an easy free during Cork’s winning period. And then staying with Connolly, in the build-up to his goal chance struck wide, Tipp had three or four chances to clear their lines but didn’t.
All that's correctable. Tipp are traditionally the best stickmen in the game. So, from Cahill’s perspective, he will be saying, let's tidy up our first touch and let's tidy up our shooting.
At one stage, you thought they were headed for a 12 or 13-point beating. They only finished four adrift. Cut out the uncharacteristic carry-on and they’re straight back in the mix going to Waterford.
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