Lively Loughrey says good start was half the battle

James Loughrey was one of the few Cork players to be singled out by manager Conor Counihan in the immediate aftermath of this Munster semi-final.

Stalwart performances may have been few and far between, and the centre-back was certainly at the head of the rankings. The Mallow clubman put in a commendable shift at the heart of the Cork defence, but was none too pleased with the team’s performance overall.

“It was a rough day and mistakes were plenty. People were saying we’d have a handy victory, but we weren’t listening to what they were saying,” he said.

“We did enough, but there were a couple of spurts in the game that we won’t be happy with. Conor and the boys will have a look at them during the week, in saying that it was good to get a win and to get over the line.”

Central to the victory was Cork’s impressive opening burst, a sentiment shared by Loughrey.

“Yeah, we got off to a good start and we knew how important that would be. We needed to get a good first ten minutes and we did that.

“There was a period then where they got a bit of momentum and knocked on a couple of points. A lot of them scores came from our mistakes so we will have to look at that. There is plenty to work on still.”

Gary Brennan’s goal early in the second-half suggested a Banner revival, but Cork, freshened by the introduction of Aidan Walsh and Ciarán Sheehan, continued to maintain their distance and eventually ground out the result.

“The lads coming of the bench, Ciarán and Aidan, they’re the best in Ireland to have coming in. We knew it was just a case of every individual emptying the tank and giving it all, and when those boys come in then they would finish the job and that’s what they did.

“The competition for places is really the biggest test at the minute. The A v B games below at the park are fierce competitive and as competitive as any game you are going to get.

“There will be three or four of those games coming up and they will be really competitive between now and the Munster final. Every lad wants to be on that pitch and you have to fight for your place.”