Barry-Murphy puzzled by Cork’s lack of ‘spark’

Cork manager Jimmy Barry-Murphy has expressed concern at his team’s failure to rediscover the spark which brought the Rebels within 10 seconds of All-Ireland glory last September.

A less than convincing Cork outfit stuttered and staggered all the way to the finishing line to keep alive their Munster ambitions, the overall performance falling several notches below the required standard according to their manager.

“We have been playing this way right through the league. We haven’t got that spark back which I felt we had last year,” he noted.