Plenty to work on for Cork, says Pat Ryan

WORK-ONS: Cork manager Pat Ryan before the Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League Final match between Cork and Tipperary at Páirc Ui Rinn in Cork. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

There was no chance of Pat Ryan allowing his first piece of silverware as Cork senior manager gloss over this below-par performance.

“There were lots of aspects we wouldn’t be happy with,” began Ryan, in what was an honest appraisal of his sides up, down for a very long time, and back up again display.

“We went long a lot. Obviously, we had a few big lads playing and that allows you to lump the ball a bit. We want to be playing a bit more direct, and I thought we lumped the ball a bit too much at times, from the wrong areas.

“We’re very cognisant that we were poor for an awful lot of that game. We haven’t a lot done tactically, and we’ve been concentrating on effort, attitude, and physicality.” 

The collective attitude was good late on. Very good.

“There are a lot of aspects that we’ll go away and learn from but what we were delighted with was the attitude and resolve that the players showed.

“I think that has been questioned in Cork an awful lot at times and we’ve been trying to make sure that fellas play until the final whistle.

“You could see here, with the Cork crowd, that we want to play silky hurling and show off our skills and all that, but we need fellas that are dying in the effort for us, and I thought that lads did that in the end.” 

One lad who wasn’t there on Sunday and won’t be there for the rest of the season is Mark Keane. He was listed as number six in the match program, which tells you how late in the week his decision came to return for chapter number two in the AFL.

“Mark has been fantastic for us. When we came back in, he was mad to train, even when his club was in an All-Ireland final. He was mad to play below in Kerry, even though we didn't want to play him.

“This opportunity came up in the last 7-10 days. We're disappointed. We'd like to have seen where he would have got to. But we wish him well and hopefully he gets better luck than the first time when he went over there, which was during Covid.” 

Across to the blue corner. “A good learning day”, was Liam Cahill’s assessment. Indeed, it was.

“For long periods of the second half, we looked to be in control. But sure, look, it’s typical Cork, isn’t it? You can never write them off.

“They hurled right out ‘til the end and brought on maybe one or two more established players that created that little bit more difficulty near the end. It’s a little disappointing, obviously, to lose in the manner in which we did.”