Emergence of Healy exactly what Ryan wanted from league
STOP THERE: Cork's Diarmuid Healy is tackled by Kilkenny's Huw Lawlor during the Allianz NHL division 1 game at SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
The mood was understandably sombre in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday as Cork bounced back from their away defeat to Tipperary. The evening began with an emotional minute’s applause in memory of former county hurler Ray Ryan, brother of Rebel manager Pat.
“It was a tough week,” Pat Ryan acknowledged to TG4 pre-match. “But we have a really good family around us and the GAA community really rallied around us.
“Plenty of managers came down to see us and county board officials and Munster Council. In tough times, the GAA community really comes out – special thanks to my own clubs, Sarsfields and Glanmire, they were brilliant for us."
When the action got underway the outstanding individual forward display of All-Ireland underage winner Diarmuid Healy was the main feature. In his first full start the Lisgoold man registered 1-5 from play.
The leadership was provided by captain Robert Downey who was returning from injury and vice-captain Shane Barrett.
“Everyone will ask you what you want to get out of the league and obviously what you are looking for is new players and looking for the new players to play well in training and Diarmuid has been playing really well in training and really well in dealing with the physicality of it,” Pat Ryan said.
“Shane has been carrying a bit of an ankle injury there at the moment but you can see he is getting sharper and sharper as he goes on but Shane was obviously another All Star so fellas expect him to go out and play like that at the start of the year. His form in the four matches we have played has really progressed so I am delighted with him.
“We started kind of well, getting plenty ball into the inside line and I thought we were a threat. But I think in that middle 20 minutes we only got two balls into the inside line which was disappointing. I thought Cian Kenny was causing us trouble even though Rob (Downey) was playing excellently, he just couldn’t pick up some of his runs – it was more of the team than anything.”
They’ll take five points from four games on the road to Clare next weekend in a repeat of the 2024 All-Ireland final.
“We’re happy enough where we are. Obviously we’ve still got a couple of injuries, a couple of fellas out who we want to get back into the team and stuff like that. But, look, the squad is strong, the squad is going well.”
Despite a loss that left manager Derek Lyng rueing missed opportunities, he said there’s plenty to play for.
“I felt we left a lot of chances behind us particularly in the first half we had 22 missed shots, either a wide or dropped short which is not good enough at this level. You need to be taking scores. We will have to be a lot more clinical than that.
“I felt Cork got their scores a bit easier. That was the most disappointing thing. Obviously at the end, we missed a couple of frees and Cork were able to pick off. We could have asked a question or two of Cork near the end but we didn’t take them. They had a cushion of two or three points in the final few minutes and that was disappointing.
“We’re training hard at the minute but you’d like to see us finishing the game a bit stronger. The effort was there. The attitude is good. We do have lads coming back as well which will help. We had a few bangs today so we had to change things around. Ideally you like to have fresh legs in the last 20 or 15 minutes.
“It is still all to play for. You see a lot of positives as well. Better execution and we could have been a lot closer. But you have to do it. We didn’t do it today and Cork deserved their win in the end.”
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