Kingston: Players need to step up

Cork senior hurling selector Kieran Kingston says he and the management team are looking for an improvement from their charges in Sunday’s clash with Galway.

Cork were six points up after half time in last Saturday night’s game with Clare, only to lose by six after a flat second-half display, trailing at one stage by nine — a 15-point turnaround.

“We’ll be looking for an improvement from the Clare game, certainly,” said Kingston.

“We’ll be looking for better application, because certainly in the second half last weekend we were overrun, no doubt about that. There were two big points in that game that we took on board. One was that we had chances in the first half, in particular, for goals, but we didn’t take them.

“At half time we were four or five points up but it could have been more, and at the very top level you need to take those chances.

“I know people said that a goal might have given us a lead that Clare mightn’t have reeled in, but that’s the lesson from missing those chances. You’ll be punished if you don’t take all your opportunities.”

Kingston added that inexperience could hardly be used as a mitigating factor for Cork, given the Banner side’s age profile.

“The other thing is that for whatever reason, our lads weren’t able to respond when the heat came on in the second half, and we’ll be looking for a big improvement in that regard up in Galway.

“I know that people are saying this is a young Cork team, which it is, the team is in development, but in fairness you have to say that Clare had a very young team out as well last weekend. So in that respect you can’t hide behind inexperience as a factor, really. We’ve talked about it this week and we’re hoping that the players will respond this Sunday.”

Kingston confirmed that apart from long-term injury victim Jamie Coughlan and Steven McDonnell (broken hand), Cork have a full panel for the trip to Galway.

“When you look at the league there are teams taking points off each other every weekend, and we certainly need the points now.

“Galway are no different, I’m quite sure [Galway manager] Anthony Cunningham will be looking for a reaction to the beating they got from Tipperary last weekend.

“In that sense it’s a good test for us, a good challenge. You’re travelling a long way to take on a team who will be very keen on a win, a good side who are big and strong and who play it intense but fair, so it’ll give us a good idea of where we’re at.”