Daire Connery: Cork U20s out to make ‘own history’ in All-Ireland final

Connery says he and his teammates “are not dwelling on the past”

Wed, 07 Jul, 2021 - 07:00

Eoghan Cormican

As the Cork U20 hurlers go in search of the county’s first All-Ireland title at this age-grade in 23 years, half-back Daire Connery has said he and his teammates “are not dwelling on the past” and want to “make our own history”.

Cork face Dublin in this Saturday’s All-Ireland U20 hurling final (UPMC Nowlan Park, 7.15pm), bidding to bridge the gap to the county’s 1998 All-Ireland U21 final win.

Connery won’t thank us for bringing it up, but the young Na Piarsaigh hurler has been part of the three most recent Cork panels to unsuccessfully contest All-Ireland underage finals.

He had just turned 17 when lining out at midfield on the Cork minor team that came up short to Galway in 2017, was a sub on the U21 panel beaten by Tipperary a year later, and was midfield on the U20 side again thwarted by the Premier in the 2019 decider.

That’s a small collection of All-Ireland final defeats he’d surely like to rectify?

“You always want a medal at the end of the year,” said Connery.

“But, to be honest, Pat Ryan nailed into us at the start of the year that we are looking to make our own history. We are not dwelling on the past.

“There are fellas here, like myself, who have been involved in all three finals, but we are not dwelling on that. We are looking forward, looking forward to making our own sort of history.”

That as it may be, Connery does acknowledge there are learnings from those back-to-back Gaelic Grounds final disappointments at the hands of Tipperary and the 2017 loss to Galway that can be put to use this week.

“You are either winning or you are learning,” he said. “There are huge learnings to take from even the minor final four years ago. That was our first taste of the big day. There are things I did back then, and when you look back at them now, you are like: ‘Why in the name of God did I do that?’

“Even in 2019, you nearly had a full Gaelic Grounds. The big thing is you are learning how to deal with the big days.”

Whereas the majority of this Cork U20 team have not played competitively since last December’s Munster final win over Tipperary, Connery — one of six U20s in Kieran Kingston’s senior set-up — is not shy of game-time, having featured in three of Cork’s Division 1A League games.

“It is a completely different game,” he said. “The pace is a step up, the physicality is a step up. Your thinking, in general, has to be a lot quicker. You won’t get the same time in the seniors as you would in the U20s. Getting a few games with the seniors is a help, you get that bit of experience.”