Quality assurance: How a new production line transformed underage GAA in Cork

The overhaul of the Cork development squad system in 2013 with the creation of regional hubs, and a greater emphasis on talent identification, has proven to be a masterstroke

FRESH FACES: Cork players celebrate their Electric Ireland Munster MHC final win over Waterford at Semple Stadium earlier this month. The creation of regional teams in Cork has led to a quadrupling of the number of players being brought into the system and their subsequent exposure to top-level coaching and early introduction to S&C work. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Noel Furlong's Cork minor hurling panel comprises 36 players from 25 clubs.

To have such a representation in a single set-up is quite the spread, but far more striking is the number of lower grade clubs scattered across the Cork team sheet.