Talking Point: Cork went looking for the ideal cocktail. Have they found it?

Whatever happens next, at least Pat Ryan’s vision for Cork to have a side with that ideal amalgam of pace, power, size, class and aggression has been realised.

PACE, POWER, SCORING: Brian Hayes in action against Dan Morrissey. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

In the aftermath of Cork’s defeat to Waterford in the opening game of the Munster round robin in April, Seánie McGrath neatly laid out the stanzas of a familiar composition in his Irish Examiner column, each verse defined by recognisable lines.

Worry. Frustration. Concern. Those words had become such a recurring theme with Cork hurling that their supporters could recite that tune as easily as a nursery rhyme.

The main thrust of McGrath’s opinion though, carried much harder tones. “It is staring us in the face after Sunday's performance and the last two years,” wrote McGrath.

“It’s time for corrective action and change, to go for broke, to give youth its fling. Is that time approaching for Pat (Ryan) to try something different? We know the answer.” 

For the previous two years, Ryan had resisted the urge to change too much, suppressing any itch to be as reactive and radical as the public wanted him to be. Ryan was still convinced that some of the more experienced brigade were the best players available to him, that they still represented Cork’s best chance of success.

Deep down, Ryan still believed as much back then, but the pressure became so overbearing after the defeat to Waterford that Ryan had to rip up the script.

The most changes Cork made for any one championship game last year was four but Ryan drafted in six new players against Clare. The team was bound to change with two games in the opening seven days, but one of the standout elements of the team selected was that it was one of the biggest and most physically imposing Cork sides in decades.

Much of that was built into the physical profile of the players introduced – Brian Hayes, Declan Dalton, Tim O’Mahony, Eoin Downey, Ethan Twomey and Niall O’Leary. Thirteen of the starting team were over 6 foot.

Brian Hayes is tackled by Sean Finn. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Although Cork lost to Clare in round 2, Ryan and his management had found the right balance and blend, which they have stuck with ever since; 14 of the players which started that game, started against Limerick in the All-Ireland semi-final. The only who didn’t was Twomey, who came on in that match ten days ago.

When Cork beat Limerick in Munster, Twomey brought something different around the middle that night, but Hayes has made a critical difference ever since; as well as being a huge physical aerial threat and a focal point for long puckouts, Hayes brings aggression and a real scoring threat.

Ryan always had that vision for Cork, to have a team with an ideal amalgam of pace, power, size, class and aggression. Ryan began that search in his first season but when he and his management reflected at the end of the 2023 championship on where they needed to go and what they needed to do better, they concluded that they needed to be fitter.

Cork have had some top-quality S&C coaches in their set-up in recent years but Ryan wanted something new. Ian Jones had certainly accumulated a level of worldliness during his career, having worked with Hockey Ireland, London Welsh RFC, USA Rugby, Penn State University, NFL sides the Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans as well as the Salt Lake Stallions, Wagner College and the University of New Orleans.

Jones’s experience in the NFL was bound to bring something novel to Cork, particularly given the level of detail involved, and the explosive power and incredible strength of NFL players. But Ryan also appreciated that Cork had to be different if results were to be different.

Within days of any of the Cork players being eliminated from their club championships last autumn, they were expected to meet with Jones, who provided them with a pre-season programme.

When they returned to collective training, Jones took those levels up another notch again, especially around the volume and frequency of their running sessions.

They rowed back on certain elements of their hurling/physical training from the winter of 2022-’23, which saw them pick up a lot of injuries in the spring of 2023. With that extra bank of work done, Cork were expected to do better in the league, but Ryan – like every manager – had always targeted his team to hit the ground running in the summer.

Being able to sustain it was just as important again, especially with Cork having four games in Munster in 28 days.

Given the quality and ferocity of the Munster championship, no team is expected to consistently keep their foot pressed to the gas throughout the campaign. The spring showed that some of the creases from last year - long fadeouts and scoring lulls - still hadn’t been fully ironed out.

That was evident again in their opening championship match against Waterford when Cork fell seven points behind, drew level, but lost by a goal. Against Clare a week later, Cork led by seven points early in the second half before going down by five and having to chase the lead until the final whistle.

Cork have been a different team ever since but they did come under pressure late on against Limerick ten days ago, only managing four shots (two of which came in one sequence after Shane Barrett’s effort came back off the post) in the last ten minutes.

Yet were they running out of gas or just trying to stem a rampant Limerick tide by then? In any case, Cork held on.

Whatever happens next, at least Ryan’s vision for Cork to have a side with that ideal amalgam of pace, power, size, class and aggression has been realised.