When Cork searched for a leader, Paul Kerrigan stepped up

It can’t be easy being a Cork footballer in recent years and had they lost last weekend, it would have been a whole lot worse, writes Kieran Shannon.

Imagine for a second if Luke Connolly hadn’t scored that goal against Tipperary last Sunday.

Would the Cork County Board still have come out on Monday and confessed that Pairc Uí Chaoimh wouldn’t have been ready for July 2 anyway? What do you think? Outside of September and Croke Park, no fixture on this year’s GAA calendar had been more anticipated and linked with a venue than the Munster football final on July 2.