Ronan Dwane: Every win along the way helps

Irrespective of the outcome in this evening’s All-Ireland intermediate hurling decider, Cork GAA faces a long winter of discontent.

That particularly awful weekend in Thurles a fortnight ago brought the curtain down on one of the worst summers in recent history for the Rebel County – not since 2001 were both the Cork senior hurling and football teams eliminated from the championship before the end of July.

Indeed, not since 1962 has a single Cork team in either code or age-group failed to reach an All-Ireland semi-final or final.