No complaints but Pat Ryan rues missed Cork goal chances

“That is two years now we haven’t won the All-Ireland, that is a disappointment from our side of things," the Rebels boss said.

Sun, 21 Jul, 2024 - 16:16

Therese O’Callaghan

Cork manager Pat Ryan said Cork 'can hold their heads up high' after their nail-biting 3-29 to 1-34 defeat to Clare. But he regretted missed goal chances, this was his immediate reaction after a momentous game that swung one way and then the other.

“We came up here to win today and we didn’t get over the line,” he said. “All credit to Clare – they performed fantastically and probably just about deserved their victory in the end.

"Obviously, we’re very disappointed. We probably didn’t take enough goal chances that we created. We probably had another four or five goal chances except for the one that we did take and we needed to take them.

“That was probably where the game lay.

“Our shot selection was probably right, bad execution more than anything. We had a couple of opportunities to take scores and didn’t take them and at that stage going into that last bit every score was vital. It just gives you that bit of momentum. It was probably played over 100 odd minutes, that was probably our undoing.”

Despite the devastating loss, can he take positives having come so close?

“I suppose that, sometimes, you’d say no but from our point of view, our job was to represent the county, represent the jersey, represent the people who came up here, paying hard money to come up to Dublin and I think the lads did that.

“The lads can be very proud of how they performed. We’ll lick our wounds and congratulate Clare. They’ll have a great couple of days and we’ll have a sad couple of days and fellas will go back to their clubs. We’ll regroup and see where that takes us.

“But that is two years now we haven’t won the All-Ireland, that is a disappointment from our side of things. We are a very proud county. We have a proud tradition and a lot of proud players have gone before us. It is key those lads would represent the jersey in that manner and I think they did today.

“Obviously we could have played better and we could have done different things and we might have made a few better decisions on the line but you’ll always look at that. The lads can hold their heads up high and be proud of their performance. At the same time, we go home without a trophy.” It doesn’t take the sting out of it either that they contributed to such an amazing game.

“It doesn’t take the hurt away”, he continued. “For the lads’ own heads and where we are at and what we want to do going forward with the team, there is a lot to work on. I think the Cork public, which are the people we ultimately answer to; they will be proud today of what they saw from the lads.”

After a whirlwind start, they let Clare back in.

"To be honest, we allowed too many short puck outs. They were able to work the ball and we lost our shape inside in the full-forward line, trying to tackle from behind. But, look, there were loads of ebbs and flows in the game. They did a lot of good things that troubled us; we troubled them as well.

“There are a couple of decisions that go your way and don’t go your way. At the end of the day, Clare are the champions and we won’t be giving out about any of that stuff.”

Neither was he using Robbie O’Flynn’s last attempt for an equaliser hit under pressure.

“Somebody said that to me (he was fouled) – to be honest, I didn’t see it. We can’t do anything about it now. We just have to move on and see where we go.”

Top scorer Patrick Horgan (36) remains without an All-Ireland medal, as does top-scorer from play Séamus Harnedy (34) - two incredible survivors from the 2013 defeat to Clare.

“I know people don’t believe it, but Patrick doesn’t actually read into the top of the scoring charts at all. I suppose he doesn’t need any plaudits like that. He just chases the whole fact of being able to play hurling with Cork, that is his main aim all the time and he will be back next year ready to go.

“Séamus was just carrying a bit of a hamstring towards the end but look, disappointed we had to take him off. He was having a fantastic game for us, a great warrior for us and showed his worth to our team today. He came out in the second half carrying a bit of a hamstring and even got a couple of scores in that situation but we couldn’t leave him on, had to take him off.”