Seánie McGrath: No mercy from Cork but Clare much better than what they showed

The Rebels were in full flow at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday. 

Cork's Brian Hayes celebrates scoring a goal. Pic: INPHO/Tom O'Hanlon

A reminder, if it was needed, of what Cork are capable of when they get on top of a team. A reminder, if it was needed, of how Cork will always go after the jugular when they get a sniff that the other side aren’t at the required pitch.

What we saw yesterday has been the typical Cork performance of recent years. Even before Brian Hayes' goal, Cork had already opened up a five-point lead, but when the two Barrs lads combined before half-time, the contest was done.

When this Cork team are riding high and know they have the opposition’s number, they’re so, so good at putting the foot on the throat. You’d expect all teams to do that when they’re on top, but some don’t, or maybe aren’t able to, but this Cork group has shown that capacity over the last couple of years and they showed us again yesterday.

My vantage point for the game gave me a great view of the Cork full-back line in the opening half. The two corner-backs, Niall O’Leary and Seán O’Donoghue, were outstanding. Outstanding on two form players in Shane O’Donnell and Ian Galvin, I might add. Niall and Seán obliterated them. The two Clare lads couldn’t get a sniff under the high ball, in 50-50 contests, or in foot races.

And then Damien Cahalane had a raw, bruising battle all day long with Peter Duggan. I always feel that Damien will never be found wanting. He’ll always play so well for the jersey, which probably stems from the DNA of the Cahalane family. He dealt with Duggan manfully and effectively.

Rob Downey’s return was a reminder of how aerially important he is to the Cork defence. It was a learning for his opponent, Diarmuid Stritch, that for every good day you’ll have at the office, a tough one is never too far away.

Early doors, I actually thought there was a small bit of a statement from Rob in how he stood over Stritch, just letting him know he was the experienced member of this pairing and Stritch the new kid on the block.

I have to squeeze in mention of Cork's inside line. For a new player on the scene, what I have loved about William Buckley across the four round-robin games is his consistency. When it comes to assists, lay-offs, and scores, he’s ticking all those boxes all the time.

Hayes is just an absolute dream player. He is always in the game, always an option. Alan Connolly is the same in that he never stops moving, never stops working. The pair’s patience is so impressive in that possession mightn’t always be coming in, but they never stop being ready.

I wondered during the week would Clare be able to lift themselves to the heights of Thurles given they expended so much energy in overcoming Tipp and, also, was the reality of having saved themselves in this championship enough for now?

We got a clear answer on that, so the same as I wouldn’t be getting carried away with the Cork performance, I wouldn’t be reading too much into how really poor Clare were.

Even though they had the couple of early goal chances, their handling and first-touch were way off. They’d so many unforced errors, which again suggests the heads really weren’t eying this Munster final.

The leftovers from winning the 2024 All-Ireland fed into a 2025 where they didn’t finish in Munster’s top three, so there was big pressure on Brian Lohan and his players this year to just get out of the round-robin. Ben O’Connor and Cork are on far more of a mission for that Munster crown than Clare and where they find themselves in 2026.

From the off, I could never buy into the narrative that we have to be careful we don’t meet Limerick too many times across the season.

Even though the Munster championship opener against Tipp was coming very soon after the League final, my reading was that Ben was still very disappointed to lose the League final to Limerick because throughout the spring he looked like a man utterly determined to win that first title of the year.

And then the minute this Munster championship started, he was very much about winning every single thing we play. For me, that’s the way we should be going about our business. We haven't won enough over the last number of years to be playing like a team that's trying to be a bit tactical in how we navigate the summer road.

Cork are best when we’re winning and when there's a buzz in the camp, so it is huge that we overcame Clare and are in the Munster final.

The fact that it's Limerick, fine. The fact that they’re the team of the decade or that Cork could meet them five times before Liam MacCarthy is handed out, that's immaterial. The bottom line is that Ben is just over the moon to be in a Munster final.