Pat Ryan: ‘We are under no illusions that everything is rosy in the garden’

Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald made the point after their Munster championship clash with Waterford that one defeat “doesn’t make you a bad team”.

By the same token, argues Cork selector Pat Ryan, one win doesn’t mean the slate is wiped clean and all problems are resolved.

Ryan describes the Cork dressing room as a picture of relief after the win over Dublin last Saturday evening. And understandably so. Despite preserving their Division 1 status at the expense of Galway in Pearse Stadium back in early April, there wasn’t a whole pile to take from a spring campaign where they lost five on the bounce. Throw in their Thurles no-show in the Munster quarter-final and it quickly becomes apparent how important last Saturday’s victory was.