‘Cats have set the standard we aspire to’

Jimmy Barry-Murphy has spoken of his admiration for Kilkenny admitting: “They were the standard we aspired to.”

Speaking ahead of the Cats’ All-Ireland qualifier win over Tipperary, the Cork boss explained that theachievements of Brian Cody’s men had become the benchmark for all hurling counties.

“I certainly don’t think their dominance was bad for hurling. I always maintained they were a fantastic team and I said it before we played Clare. They were the standard we aspired to, to get players dedicated like that to playing for Cork. I admire them. I thought they were a super team and lifted the standard. They set the bar very high and for teams like ourselves who had fallen away a bit, that was the barrier to aim at, to get up there to try to compete with them. I’ve used this cliché before, that things come in cycles but that was the longest cycle we’ve ever seen in hurling, the Tour de France (laughs)!