Canning could be the difference

KEVIN HENNESSY has made a massive contribution to Cork hurling in all grades as a player.

Included in his winning haul is an U-21 medal in 1982. Since retiring he has been hugely involved with his club Midleton, but, for the last six years, he has been a selector with the Cork U-21 team. Apart from a couple of Munster titles, the All-Ireland has eluded him.

“I view the U-21 grade as far more important than the minor,” said Kevin. “The gap between minor and U-21 is huge compared to that between U-21 and senior.

“A lot of minors fall by the wayside, where, if you make it to U-21 level, your chances of breaking into the senior team are far greater.

“In lots of cases senior players also play at U-21 level and, at the end of the day, the most important thing is bringing young players forward to your county senior team.

“Today’s All-Ireland semi-final is a massive game for both counties. Cork haven’t contested a final in nine years, when Dan Murphy led them to victor over Galway, and need to be winning this particular grade now as the seniors are not getting any younger.

“You need the infusion of new blood every year onto the senior team to keep everybody on their toes. That’s why the U-21 is so important to Cork.

“We are going into the game with a lot of work done. We’ve played three championship games to win the Munster title and that is bound to stand to us against a side who have played no competitive match so far.

“Having said that, our preparation was disrupted by the All-Ireland senior run and by the county championship games last weekend. But, credit to the players, they were back training on Sunday and are keen to get to the final.

“We have five seniors involved which is great experience to have. But Galway also have a number of senior players and, of course, Joe Canning will be with them.

“The advantage is with Galway in that they are picking from teams who contested three minor All-Ireland finals in a row, winning two. It’s going to be very difficult but if we get a good start, we’ll be hard to beat”.

Galway manager Vincent Mullen will be without Andy Carey, who has not recovered from a fractured toe. He captained the 2005 All-Ireland minor winning team and will be a loss.

“It’s the same old story with us,” said Mullen, “lack of competitive matches. It’s a huge draw- back, but we have managed to get in a number of games and I’m happy enough with our preparation.

“I saw Cork play in the Munster final and they weren’t overly impressive. But Cork are Cork and you always have to respect them. You never get anything soft off them as we well know.

“We have 10 of the side which beat them in the 2005 All-Ireland semi-final, which gives us a good solid base. But I know it’s a well worn cliche: it’s the team that plays best on the day and wants the victory most that comes through.”

It’s a difficult game to call. How the Cork defence cope with Joe Canning will have a huge bearing on the outcome. How fit the Portumna man is could determine a lot. On his day he has no equal — as he proved in this year’s Fitzgibbon Cup campaign with LIT, where he scored freely.

However, that was when the pitches were on the heavy side. There is a far firmer sod in Thurles today and it will be interesting to see how he copes when the sliotar is moving a lot faster.

Keril Wade is another forward who will cause the Cork defence endless problems, particularly from dead ball situations. He’ll punish any indiscretions from any distance.

“If we are to have any chance,” said Hennessy, “our inside forwards will have to deliver. They haven’t up to now. If they do I would be fairly confident of advancing to the final, but it’s going to be one hell of a game.”