Rebel yell is silenced as Tribesmen march on

IN THE gloom outside Semple Stadium late last Saturday evening, the two buses were being boarded. A small group of enthusiastic Galway fans on one side cheering on their heroes, and knots of quiet Cork supporters on the other, watching their hurlers troop out of the ground.

It was a neat reverse of the 2008 scene, when Cork had edged out Galway, but this season’s edition has an element of regime change about it. The Tribesmen had seven points to spare and continue their development, while it’s likely that some of their opponents will not play inter-county hurling again.

As a game, it stuttered until the last seven minutes, the cold, rain and floodlights suggesting a national league fixture which had wandered, blinking, onto the main stage. Galway’s sharpness showed the benefit of their games against Kilkenny and Clare, but Ben O’Connor – again – carried the fight for Cork, and Galway boss John McIntyre admitted afterwards he’d had to adjust his side’s alignment.