Lots done, but more to do before semi-final

THE Cork hurlers’ revolt before Christmas, handled so diplomatically and resulting in the cementing of new relationships with County Board management, may be seen by many as the catalyst for yesterday’s triumph in Thurles.

But that is not the case as far as the players involved are concerned.

“There has never been any mention whatsoever of those events, from either the County Board or ourselves. What did occur is now consigned to the history books.

"All we want to do is to write more Munster championship victories into the history books in the name of Cork and we took a big step in that direction on this occasion,” said full-forward Joe Deane.

Team captain Alan Browne added: “After the dispute was successfully resolved we set down the winning of the Munster championship as our chief marker.

"This had nothing at all to do with the action we took with the County Board but was mainly based on the fact that for the past three years we gallingly left the provincial championship behind us.

“The culmination of our triumphant march through Munster must be attributed to just one ethic alone. And that was sheer hard work.

"Everyone associated with this team worked their socks off to ensure that Cork’s name would be ablaze in lights once again.”

Browne made no excuses for Cork’s lacklustre performance in the first-half.

“We were not over-hyped or anything like that, but Waterford’s attitude in the opening sequences was superior to ours and we were more than a trifle lucky to have been five points behind at half-time instead of being eight points adrift.

“Things were not going our way but, thankfully, we never panicked. We sat down in a relaxed mood during the interval break. We talked things out among ourselves.”

Said Joe Deane: “I believe that what stood to us was that some of the team was old enough and experienced enough to know that at this level of the game no team is going to dominate for the entire 70 minutes.

“Also, the wind was a key factor but we knew we would have to really up our game after the resumption if we were going to win, and thankfully, that is the way things worked out.”

Team captain Browne was lavish in his praise of Cork’s new players.

“The performances of Tom Kenny, Ronan Curran, John Gardiner and Setanta Ó hAilpín really lifted us when the need was greatest, but overall, everyone of the side battled tremendously to win this one for Cork.

“We remained very focused and I believe that was the kernel of our success.”

There was no doubt in full-back Pat Mulcahy’s mind what won this game for Cork:

“Our half-backs and forwards won it for us. We didn’t play at all in the first half but when Tom Kenny, Ronan Curran, Seán Óg ÓhAilpín, Ben O’Connor and the lads up front really began to motor, you could literally feel the surge of confidence that flowed through the entire side.”

Setanta Ó hAilpín, describing the feeling of winning his first Munster senior championship medal as ‘brilliant’, felt that Cork had luck on their side:

“We could very easily have been trailing by more than five points at half-time, but we held our heads, knowing that there was only two pucks of the ball in it at that stage and our confidence grew enormously, following our electrifying start to the second half.”

Older brother Seán Óg said: “It was a tough match, just as we expected. Waterford came at us hard but fair and we knew we would have to react in the most positive manner possible after the resumption.

“After we drew level with them, I always felt that victory would go to the side that wanted it most and on this occasion, I think we proved that we wanted it more than Waterford.”

Wayne Sherlock articulated Cork’s inner-most feelings when he said: “It has been a long three years since we last won the championship but hopefully now, the bad times are behind us.

"We are looking forward to going back to Croke Park but there is still a lot of hurling and more hard work to be done before we can claim to be the finished article.”

Alan Browne said: “We will celebrate this victory but it will be back to the hard slog soon. We have between five and six weeks to go now before our All-Ireland semi-final and I can guarantee you that there will be a lot of sweat shed between now and then, in our endeavours to bring further glory to Cork.”