Richie Power: Why did Cork not push on?

Richie Power can’t understand why Cork have not pushed on from three years ago when they were seconds away from an All-Ireland title.

As Cork aim to end their run of three defeats against Kilkenny tomorrow evening, Power shrugged: “I certainly thought back in 2013 (All-Ireland quarter-final) when they beat us that this team are here to stay. They were a very young team so I can’t understand how they haven’t made the breakthrough or progression.”

However, he added of their recent league form: “A lot of is shadow boxing - you will probably see a completely different Cork side come the first round of the Championship and that goes for every other team.”

Power also believes Galway’s players are under the cosh after forcing Anthony Cunningham to step down. “I don’t know the ins and outs of what happened in Galway but they are putting a lot of pressure on themselves this year to perform.

“Anthony Cunningham, to me, had a good record. He had them in two All-Ireland finals in four years, which is not a bad return. Looking back on those two All-Irelands, they had the medal there if they really wanted it. In 2012, Henry (Shefflin) dragged us out of a hole and last year you couldn’t be in a better position – four points up at half-time.”

Power also joked he would think twice again about commenting on Twitter about soccer after his criticism of Lionel Messi’s decision to pass a penalty to Luis Suarez went global.

The Carrickshock man said the goal against Celta Vigo in a La Liga fixture last month showed “complete disrespect to the opposition”.

He laughed yesterday: “I got a bit of abuse about that. The New York Times picked up on it. That’s my claim to fame!”

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