Ryan says promotion failure won’t dent Cork’s summer hopes

Former Cork hurling captain Fergal Ryan does not believe failure to get out of Division 1B of the Allianz Hurling League would impact too negatively on their championship prospects.

Cork currently trail Limerick on scoring difference and, with only one team guaranteed promotion, need to post big totals against Antrim and Wexford in their remaining games.

Ryan points to last year – when Cork were relegated but reached the All-Ireland final – as a perfect example of how the summer does not necessarily follow the spring in a linear manner.

“I certainly wouldn’t be writing them off based on just the league results,” he said.

“You look at last year, Cork and Clare were in the relegation play-off and it was Kilkenny and Tipperary in the league final but then in the summer it was almost exactly the opposite. I think in football the league is probably a lot more closely related to the championship in terms of performance but maybe because there are fewer games in the hurling you can’t use it as a benchmark as much.

“The result against Limerick was a disappointing one but I think people are taking a worse view of the other games because of that. Cork would obviously have been looking to get out of Division 1B and they’ll be unhappy if they don’t but it wouldn’t necessarily lead to a bad summer.”

The draw with Limerick in the opening round of the league put pressure on Cork to win big in their other games. That and an increase in external expectation leads to the perception they are struggling, Ryan (pictured) believes.

“Obviously, after getting to the All-Ireland final and getting so close has raised expectations among the general public,” he said.

“It’s hard to put the finger on exactly what’s missing, but I suppose one thing that they’re not doing is killing off teams when they have the chance to do so. If they had done that against Limerick then they’d probably have three wins now and promotion would be nearly secured.

“Because they didn’t, that created a need to put up big scores against other teams and that doesn’t always follow, especially when you’re playing teams that are trying to avoid relegation and you’re introducing new players into the team.

“Eoin Cadogan and Aidan Walsh are only getting to used to playing in the side and other lads like Séamus Harnedy and Robert O’Shea are still relatively new so they’re learning all the time. It’s a delicate balance to be trying to give players games and stay winning too.”

Regardless of whether they get promoted or not, Cork will have a quarter-final against a Division 1A team, however. Such a game would provide a good test ahead of the championship, with any prospective semi-final and final likely to do the same.

“It could well be the case,” Ryan said.

“I wouldn’t be close enough to anybody on the panel to know how hard they’re training but last year they were able to peak at the right times.

“That might be the focus, getting through games and getting through a lot of training work too, but at the back of their minds they’ll still know how important it is to be in Division 1A and to have a better quality of games.”