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.