Cork hurlers looking forward to Dublin NHL clash

The sun out, the ground hardening and an enticing double-header of NHL semi-finals on offer tomorrow.

Cork manager Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s enthusiasm about tomorrow’s fare is unmistakable, the Rebel icon looking forward to his side’s clash with Dublin in the Nowlan Park curtain-raiser.

The last time the two sides met, in the league proper, Cork ran roughshod over Dublin, hitting 0-34 in Croke Park. The Cork manager isn’t expecting a similar scoreline tomorrow.

“There’s always a sense, when you play a team you’ve already met and beaten, it’s more difficult for you. Obviously if yours is the team that’s been beaten, then motivation isn’t going to be an issue for your players. We’re aware of that. We know Dublin will be keen to show what they can do, and that the performance they gave the night we beat them above wouldn’t be a reflection of their true ability in any way.

“We’ve seen plenty of them over the last five or six years, when they’ve been one of the most successful teams around - they’ve been league champions, Leinster champions, there or thereabouts - they’ve got a very seasoned panel when you take all of that into consideration, it’s going to be very difficult for us.”

Barry-Murphy certainly doesn’t have any time for the tag of ‘manufactured hurlers’ which was attached to Dublin last season: “I thought that was rubbish. Dublin have plenty of hurlers who’d walk onto any team in the country. Danny Sutcliffe, Liam Rushe, Ryan O’Dwyer, the Schuttes - I could go on. Dublin have very good hurlers, they wouldn’t have won the trophies they have if they didn’t.”

It’s a Leinster venue which will host three Munster teams tomorrow, but Barry-Murphy says the location isn’t an issue for him or his side.

“It shouldn’t be anyway, Nowlan Park is a good venue, a good surface, and I certainly wouldn’t have any problems going there for a game. I’m looking forward to it - there’s probably an element of novelty in going there for a league semi-final for us in that we’d normally expect to be playing a game like that in Thurles, but that’s not a bad thing either.”

He’s glad the injuries in the camp have cleared up, though there’s still a question mark over his centre-back.

“Alan Cadogan has recovered fine,” says Barry-Murphy. “On Mark Ellis, we’ll make a definite decision on Saturday or Sunday, but we’re hopeful he’ll be right.”

At least this year there are no dual players for Barry-Murphy and football boss Brian Cuthbert to juggle, with Damien Cahalane and Aidan Walsh focused on hurling.

“There was a challenge there in terms of managing games and training for the dual players,” says Barry-Murphy. “I think there’s a big improvement in their hurling, certainly. With the NHL games coming thick and fast, we wouldn’t have had an awful lot of time to focus on hurling training, maybe, so I’d hope the results of that kind of work will be reflected over the coming six or seven weeks.”

Cork’s enthusiasm for the knock-out stage of the league relates directly to the fact they’re not out in the championship until June 7.

“From the outset we made it clear we were very keen on qualifying for the knock-out stages of the league, that was a big target for us. The way the league is structured, you’ve got to make sure you’re not in relegation trouble, but if you manage to do that you’re going to be involved in a league quarter-final anyway, so you’re killing two birds with one stone.

“We certainly didn’t want to lose our place in Division 1A, that was the first step negotiated and, after that, our view was we’d go as far as we could, and get those competitive games as late as we could before our championship game in June. We were clear about that from the word go.”

The league format is tight, with teams swinging from qualification to relegation problems very easily, but Barry-Murphy prefers it that way. “There’s always something at stake. I know the last game against Tipp was a bit of a dead rubber in terms of qualification but that was a very competitive match as well. Maybe as a manager you’d like another game or two just to experiment a bit more, to see a few more lads in action, but on the flip side it’s so competitive that it keeps everyone keen and on their toes. You’re going week to week apart from a break for the Fitzgibbon, so you have the players together for a good while, there’s a lot you can work on, there’s something at stake in all the game - I’m a big fan of the format, I think it works very well.”

It’s helped Cork bring players through as well. In the last two years they’ve found Seamus Harnedy and Alan Cadogan. This year Cormac Murphy has worked his way into contention.

“Cormac, Brian Lawton, Rob O’Shea, William Kearney - they’ve all put their hands up in a big way, and we’re delighted with that kind of competition for places. They’ve been knocking on the door of the panel for a couple of years and we’d be hoping the panel is getting stronger at this stage. You’d always want more depth in some areas, maybe, but I’d say there isn’t a manager in any sport who doesn’t feel like that.

“Ideally you’d like players on the panel who are coming through after experiencing Munster and All-Ireland finals at underage level, but we haven’t had that kind of success in Cork for a while, we’re all aware of that. What we have is what we have but we’re happy with how the lads are progressing.”

There was a suggestion some counties in last weekend’s NFL semi-finals weren’t too keen on making the final. Barry-Murphy’s at the other end of the spectrum.

“We’d love to get to the league final - it’d be great for us to face Tipperary or Waterford in a league final in a couple of weeks rather than just wait until June and our championship game. It’d be fantastic preparation.

“When we won the league in 1998 . . . it’s a long time ago now, but it was a huge step forward for us at the time, certainly. It was a national title, and there are only two of those on offer every year.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’d love Cork to be competing in the league final every year. It’d be very beneficial.”