Red reasons to be cheerful...

REASONS to be cheerful were in triplicate last weekend. Ireland won its first rugby Grand Slam in 61 years, Bernard Dunne became world boxing champion and the Cork hurlers once again donned the red jersey with pride in a thrilling victory over Clare.

The “end” of the Cork strike was a welcome boost to everybody in the GAA, irrespective of their colours. Now, we must ensure that the word strike doesn’t feature on the horizon for a long, long time to come. But judging by the Red C Poll conducted on behalf of the Irish Examiner, 60% of the population of Cork are not confident there will be no more Cork GAA strikes in the foreseeable future.

The poll was conducted on March 18-19, three days after John Cleary’s U-21 footballers hammered Kerry in the Munster Championship, but more significantly four days before Cork’s united and successful comeback against Clare in the National Hurling League. The joy and relief on Cork fans’ faces on Sunday evening may well have heralded a new dawn for Cork hurling not reflected in this opinion poll.