Cork had all angles covered

OUTSIDE the Cork camp, Alan O’Connor’s first-half dismissal in Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final may have seemed like a fatal blow, but those inside Conor Counihan’s set-up were not perturbed.

There’s regularly been a fresh twist to Cork’s training matches this summer, with a 14 men versus 15 men scenario helping to prepare the players for such an eventuality in the heat of championship action. Wing-forward Paul Kerrigan believes that preparation ensured Cork were steeled to overcome Tyrone’s personnel advantage on Sunday.

“We often train down a man, and you don’t realise how it’ll go until it comes into practice.