Playing senior the ultimate goal for Cork U20 star Ben Cunningham

SENIOR AMBITIONS: Ben Cunningham's main ambition is to become a Cork senior hurler. Pic: INPHO/Ben Brady

Ben Cunningham signed off in style. The curtain fell on his time as a leading U20 actor with a second All-Ireland medal at the grade.

The opening lines to his senior chapter have already been written. There was involvement off the bench against Kerry in the Munster SHL back in January. There was a first start against Westmeath in Round 3 of the Allianz League seven weeks later.

What he wants now is to be a fully-fledged member of Pat Ryan’s senior panel. What he wants now is to follow in the footsteps of his 2021 All-Ireland winning U20 teammates who’ve already transitioned up the line and hurled championship for the Cork seniors.

It’s a long list. Eoin Downey, Ethan Twomey, Cormac O’Brien, Ciarán Joyce, Brian Hayes, and Pádraig Power have all made the jump and have all made their senior championship debuts.

Six is an usually large number of players to come through from a single U20 panel. And that’s without even mentioning Shane Barrett and Alan Connolly, two more players who were eligible for U20 in 2021 but didn’t feature because of senior championship involvement that same summer.

Following Sunday’s All-Ireland final win, manager Ben O’Connor remarked that two or three is realistically all that will come through and progress upwards. His leading marksman, Ben Cunningham, said everyone in that Cork U20 dressing-room will move mountains to earn senior minutes in the years ahead.

“All of us have the ambition to play senior hurling for Cork. That’s the ultimate goal,” Cunningham began.

“Playing U20s is unbelievable and we all love it, but the ultimate objective is to play senior and that’s what we’ll try to do.” 

He and a couple more have put themselves in the spotlight for senior promotion with credentials embellished.

In the eight minutes after half-time when Cork took a flamethrower to Offaly dreams of a first All-Ireland U20 title, it was captain Micheál Mullins with the decisive goal and it was Cunningham with four of the six points they registered to swell a two-point interval lead out to 11.

“Mullins, what an animal, a leader. As captain, he’s been showing it all year. He’s been there since early October and November doing that, so it was no surprise to us,” said Cunningham of the midfielder’s green flag nine seconds after the restart.

“We knew Offaly were going to bring a savage crowd. You saw that at the start of the game when they were coming out. They were on top in the first half, but we were going in at half-time leading, so we were happy out with where we were.

“We started off the second half with the intensity that we needed to bring and we knew they wouldn’t be able to match us. A nine-point swing at the start of the second half would be tough for any team to come back from.” 

Leaving aside the consolation 1-1 that Offaly clipped in the game’s dying embers, Cork outgunned the Leinster champions 1-11 to 1-3 in the 29 minutes after half-time. Of that Offaly 1-3, only the Conor Doyle goal arrived from open play.

It was a second half demonstration of Cork's rude underage health.

“We were a bit hit-and-miss in the first half, but as for the second half, all I can say is, ‘Wow’.

“We were popping points left, right and centre and the scoreline showed it in the end. We were savage, we were hungry for turnovers, and that’s what we did. We enjoyed the second half and I think that that was very obvious to see.

“What a year, what a bunch of lads. Finally, it showed on the pitch today.” 

The U20 box ticked, Cunningham and others will move onwards and upwards with confidence.