Bowen confident Cork can overcome Galway

IF Cork harbour ambitions of making a meaningful impression in this year’s Liam MacCarthy Cup, then they will have to do better than last Saturday’s distinctly iffy display against Dublin.

It was a major wake up call for a ring rusty Cork and team mentor Martin Bowen is aware a major improvement is required. “A repeat of that form against Galway tomorrow (Thurles 7pm) and we will be in serious trouble,” he concedes

The selectors roll out the big guns tomorrow in the hope thy can see off the Galway challenge.

Ronan Curran and Seán Óg Ó hAilpín return to defence for the injured Eoin Cadogan, who twisted his ankle in the win over Dublin last week, and the omitted Kieran McGann, as the Leesiders look to keep their season afloat a while longer.

“We are into the real knitty gritty of the championship now, but it was the same with the Dublin game. Lose and it’s all over. Win and it opens up all sorts of possibilities,” said Bowen.

“Galway are second favourites for the All-Ireland with the bookies so that tells you how big the task is for us, but we have a good record against them, and we are going into the game confident we can take them.

“Despite the public perception, we have the utmost confidence in the lads, all 30 of them. Without being overly confident, we expect to win and that is the view of everyone in the camp.

“I will acknowledge that Galway are a very good team. We have played them three times and they have been very good at different stages of those matches, but we don’t fear any team.

“People are reading too much into the defeat by Tipperary in the Munster semi-final. They appear to have lost sight of the fact that for 20 minutes we hurled them off the park, didn’t enjoy any bit of luck in the second half when a goal would have turned it.

“The question has been asked why we didn’t play the full 70 minutes against Tipp like we did for the opening 20. That has been discussed regularly since, and the selectors are confident the team chosen will do that on Saturday.’’

Bowen added: “Last week’s performance against Dublin wasn’t great, but it was never going to be an easy game for us. We were expected to win it comfortably but to be fair to our opponents, they have been making good strides and would put it to most teams.”

Asked why the selectors have gone back for the more experienced players, Bowen said that: “when we came into office we made a deliberate effort to have a panel of 30 players who would be capable of playing at the highest level.

“It’s very much a case of horses for courses for tomorrow’s game, and I’ve no doubt that when we win, there will be a couple of changes for the next match. We introduce players on a gradual basis and get them the necessary experience, because they are going to be the players of the future.

“The selectors are under no illusions about tomorrow’s game, but we expect to play well. The lads are in great form, and we’re playing in Thurles, what more can we ask for?”