‘The future for Cork hurling can be very bright...’

Should the Cork minor hurlers find a way past Waterford this evening, the likely prize — if you can even call it that — is a Munster MHC semi-final meeting away to All-Ireland champions Tipperary.

Were this fixture to come to pass, it would be the second consecutive summer in which two of the top-rated teams in the country are pitted together at such an early juncture. It would also mean that, for the second year in a row, one of the favourites for All-Ireland glory wouldn’t even make it as far as their respective provincial final.

Last year’s clash ended in defeat for the Rebels and it was a similar tale of woe in the 2015 Munster semi against Limerick. It is against this backdrop there is considerable pressure on Denis Ring’s management team and his latest group of nascent talents to not alone find a way past Waterford but to navigate a path that takes them to the Munster final. So never mind that oft-quoted stat a Cork team hasn’t contested a Munster final since 2008 or the fact three of the four championship wins secured between 2011 and 2014 were against Kerry. The pressure is there because the last two years have seen very capable minor teams assembled and yet both were sent packing by the first week of July.