Cork in pole position to retain title, says Murphy

WEXFORD manager Seamus Murphy believes All-Ireland SHC champions Cork are in pole position to retain their crown.

“They have massive strength in depth and as they showed in the way they came back to beat us, their appetite to win is as great as it has ever been,” Murphy said after his side were pipped by a late Tom Kenny point in the Allianz NHL Division 1B tie at Wexford Park on Sunday.

Ironically the winning manager John Allen was less than upbeat, despite a second successive NHL victory, while Murphy, described the performance of his side as “very encouraging.”

Both agreed that a goal strike by Timmy McCarthy in the 56th minute was the game’s turning point.

“We badly needed to get back into the game at that stage,” said Allen, “With Wexford two points to the good and playing with the strong wind. The finish by Timmy (McCarthy) was clinical and brought us back into contention just when we were coming under strong pressure.”

Allen also praised the performance of Brian Corcoran at full forward.

“Brian began winning crucial possession for us, and apart from setting up our goal he also scored a great point. I am delighted with his input,” he said. Yet the Cork manager conceded that he wasn’t “overly happy” with their performance, after their display against Limerick the previous Sunday.

“In the end the goal was the difference because apart from giving us a major boost it also knocked Wexford back a bit.”

Murphy was more upbeat despite the loss. “I think we were very unlucky not to have won or at least drawn the game’, he said. We were all fired up for it and we certainly put it up to Cork There are a huge lot of positives we can take from it. That’s a good base to build on,” he added.

Wexford have introduced a number of new players onto the panel and had only seven survivors from last year’s All-Ireland semi-final team on duty at the weekend.

Murphy added that injured trio Rory McCarthy, Rory Jacob, and Malachy Travers are all close to resuming training. Darragh Ryan, who underwent successful knee surgery at Waterford Regional Hospital is expected to return by mid April.