Stephen McDonnell predicts cracker as Limerick and Cork fight it out

On Sunday Cork and Limerick clash in the Allianz Hurling League quarter-final, but they’ve had a couple of meetings already this year.

Cork had a seven-goal winning margin over Limerick in their Munster League game, but in the final of that competition, the Rebels needed Alan Cadogan to conjure a last-minute goal for victory. With that kind of backstory it’s no surprise that Limerick boss John Kiely sees both sides having a right cut on Sunday, and Cork captain Stephen McDonnell agrees.

“I’d say he’s spot on — both teams will be as strong as they can be in terms of selection and will want to give another good display and keep it going. Everybody’s looking for the performance but a win next week and you’re out again two weeks after that, so it’s a good incentive. I’d say it’ll be pretty intense.”

It was pretty intense for Cork last week, grabbing a dramatic late winner against All-Ireland champions Tipperary at a packed Pairc Ui Rinn. McDonnell says they haven’t been dwelling on that game too much, however.

“There’s been no great talking this week about the win last Sunday — after a game like that there are plenty of sore bodies, lads are just trying to get themselves sorted out for the weekend coming.

"It was a good win, of course, but you’re back at training on Tuesday and looking ahead to the next day out rather than getting hung up on last Sunday. Next weekend is the focus, that’s how we’ve been approaching the season and that won’t stop now.”

This time last year Cork hadn’t won a regular league game and were facing a nervy relegation play-off with Galway. Defender Damien Cahalane said on Sunday there’s greater freedom in facing a quarter-final, but McDonnell sees consistency as a bigger goal.

“I suppose you could look at it like that, as a chance to play with more freedom, though really I see it as just another game, an opportunity to go out again and to try to perform and to be hard to beat — that’s the attitude you want to try to bring every day.

“The consistency is a big thing for us, and I think this year more than other years, we’re learning a lot from our mistakes. We’re using those mistakes as opportunities to grow, that’s our attitude, and we’ve taken a good look at the games we’ve lost.

“Those games — against Dublin and Kilkenny — we’ve examined with a view to asking, ‘well, how did we lose’ and then trying to rectify that, what we did wrong. Then, when things go against us in a game, when we fall behind on the scoreboard or if the other team gets a run on us for a while, we know that that can’t last forever, that we’ll get our turn and get our chances as well. We’re open to that.”

And to improvement.

Take their winner last Sunday in injury time.

“The work is being done all the time,” says McDonnell, “Bill (Cooper) won a great ball late on last weekend, the clearance sent into Patrick (Horgan) was a good one — the lads really embraced the chance, which was the major thing. Everyone kept their heads up and stayed strong, kept it going and drove it to the very end.”

The younger players Cork have been using — Shane Kingston, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Mark Coleman, Luke Meade and others — are a big part of that, but Glen Rovers clubman McDonnell says the learning process works both ways.

“We’ve got a good, strong panel now and the newer players are a big part of that, obviously. I suppose I’m one of the older lads now, I’m on the panel seven years, but it’s not all learning one way.

“The older lads are learning as much from the younger players as the other way around, definitely. They all have a great attitude, and it reminds us of how we were when we first came onto the panel, our attitude. They’re bringing a good energy to the set-up, they’re learning and improving, so it’s good for everyone, the way things are going at the moment.”