Sun finally shining on blooming Rebels
“When the cuckoo calls,” was the way Christy Ring put it.
Well the sun shone on Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday and had an effect on the Cork players as they were absolutely flying. I said on Saturday that a few of their older players were beginning to lack a bit of toe. Those players weren’t started yesterday and credit to Jimmy Barry-Murphy and his selectors for that. If anything Kilkenny were the ones shown up for lack of pace, in defence especially where a number of their players were exposed.
I was looking forward to seeing this new boy wonder of Cork hurling, Conor Lehane, to see what he was made of. I saw him at U21 but these are the big boys and the step-up is massive. I didn’t have to wait long to find out if Conor would be up to it.
Big boys? They don’t come any bigger than Michael Fennelly, nor much harder. The first ball Conor won he took off up the right wing and there to greet him? None other than big Michael. I felt the impact up in the stand, the Cork youngster dumped over the sideline. It told me everything I needed to know about him however. There was no playacting, no lying down, just straight back to his feet and on with the game. And on with the game for the next 70 minutes, putting a few different markers in trouble, the greatJJ Delaney taken off him after only 23 minutes, finding Conor too hot to handle.
His manager was a bit of a boy wonder in his own day and I can well remember Jimmy Barry-Murphy as a shaven-headed teenage star with the Cork hurlers and footballers. But the thing about Jimmy was he maintained his form for many years and went on to become a dual star. The challenge for Conor now is to match that achievement, to make all the sacrifices necessary. What he has to remember too, no matter how good he becomes, he’s still just part of a team. On what I saw yesterday, the signs areall good.
It wasn’t just about one man though. In the forwards Cork had six really good players with a good touch, good off-the-ball running and hard workers. I hope though that I never read or hear from them that they want ‘the right ball’. Wrong ball for a forward is the ball that isn’t coming in.
I was also very impressed by the Cork defence. Remember, Kilkenny scored 5-16 last week against a strong Dublin side. They were held yesterday to one goal, while nine of Richie Power’s points came from placed balls. Even the goal could have been prevented, a penalty after Power was pulled down when he should have been fouled much earlier.
I was very impressed with McDonnell at full-back but nice to see also that both Brian Murphy and Shane O’Neill are right back to their outstanding form of a few years ago. The most steadying influence of all though was the placing of Eoin Cadogan at centre-back. I’ve seen him there for his club, a big, strong and imposing figure. The two big men beside him also did very well, Sean Óg Ó hAilpín back in his favourite position of wing-back, though on the right wing, William Egan a great game on the left.
The two Cork youngsters, Lorcan McLoughlin and Darren Sweetnam, did as well as any midfield has done against the best midfield combination of the last two years, Michael Fennelly and Michael Rice.
The most satisfying thing though from a Cork point of view, the vast majority of this Cork team are under 25 years of age and that bodes well for the future.
All I’ll say about Kilkenny is this wasn’t the real Cats, and you can expect to see wholesale changes between this 15 and the championship side. If you really want to win a game, you don’t leave Tommy Walsh on the bench for 70 minutes — that’s the end of that!
As big a surprise this one was, it was an even bigger one when Waterford beat Galway in Galway. Obviously everyone got behind Michael Ryan, pulled together and John Mullane’s return was a boost. A great win for them, but massive disappointment and a huge setback for Galway and Anthony Cunningham.
Results elsewhere mean Clare are already in the Division 1B final, unbeaten, for the third year in a row — great to see that. It means though that every other team still has something to play for in the final round of games. What more can you ask for?
