Rebels benefiting from league focus, says Gardiner

JOHN GARDINER claims Cork’s qualification for the NHL final reflects the investment of their energies in this year’s campaign.

Previous Rebels teams have been accused of ghosting through the early months of the year, with all their focus on the business end of the season and the Championship.

Cork boss Denis Walsh even admitted ahead at the launch of this year’s league that in the past, “realistically, there probably was” less interest in winning the league than there should have been.

He also stated back in February that there’d be no such attitude towards this year’s league and he’s been proven as good as his word, sending his Cork teams out with a burning ambition to win every game they’ve played.

They’ve almost managed to pull that off, slipping up only to Galway last weekend, though by that stage they had already booked their place in Sunday week’s decider in Thurles with five wins and a draw.

Asked if Cork took a more ambitious approach to this year’s league, Gardiner said: “Yeah, I think we did. I think we needed to. We didn’t take the benefit of the league over the last couple of years, last year in particular.

“This year we probably needed the games. There’s nothing like league games to bring guys on and see what way they’re shaping up.

“We used the league very well this year. They went out with the aim to win the games and we’ll go out with the aim to win the rest of our games this year.”

Gardiner’s reference to last year’s league campaign being a write off was, of course, on the basis that the strike crisis rumbled on through the early rounds of the competition.

He stopped short of admitting that after all that strife, claiming a national league title now would be even sweeter than their previous All-Ireland wins.

But he said it would certainly reflect positively on how they’ve turned things around in such a short time.

“We seem to be doing all right though I don’t want to blow it up too much,” continued Gardiner. “A lot of the games were in the balance. We could have lost league games as well. We were lucky enough at times. That’s all I ever wanted to do (play hurling) and it’s great. The new guys have come in and freshened it up as well. The older guys got a new lease of life. The whole thing has gelled nicely.”

Unsurprisingly, Gardiner reckons Galway must be favourites for the Thurles tie. He claims that’s not just tossing extra pressure in their direction but is based on their victory last weekend in the league as well as last July’s convincing Championship victory for the Tribesmen.

“We’ve found it difficult against them and they’ve got the better of us over the last couple of meetings,” he said.

“They’ve got exceptional players. They’re a coming team and a coming force.

“They’re in a league final now and that’s exactly where they want to be, no question or doubt that they’re going to be favourites with the players that they have, compared to the players we have, even though our league form has probably been similar.

“They’re a quality side and they’ll want to beat us coming up to the Championship as well. They’ll be focusing on that and they’ll be using this game to push on towards the Leinster Championship.”