League final against Tipp 'a great opportunity to get better' for championship, says Cork boss Ryan

The Rebels had too much for Galway on Leeside on Saturday night.

Sat, 22 Mar, 2025 - 11:13

Therese O’Callaghan, SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh

Cork are through to the Division 1A hurling league final against Tipperary in a fortnight but manager Pat Ryan says the main goal is the preparation for the first round of the Munster championship against Clare later in the month.

“I suppose it wasn’t our plan at the start of the year. At the start of the year our plan was to build our squad and prepare for the April 20th (Clare). Obviously we view it as great preparation, we have two weeks off now. We have a game which is fantastic - the same as Liam Cahill. It is probably the league final nobody wants to be in but from our point of view it is a great opportunity to get better. Our focus all the time is on the 20th April against Clare.

“It would be very hard to get challenge matches because obviously we knew that if we won today's game, that we would be in the league final. Obviously, we wouldn't have challenge matches organised, whereas you can guarantee every other county has, so it would be very hard for us to get a challenge match and Liam would be in the same situation. So it's a great opportunity for us to get a game.”

Cork ran riot scoring six goals against Clare, four on this occasion and another clean sheet, while Patrick Horgan who tallied 1-9 emerged as the league top scorer.

“I thought we got a bit of a bounce off our bench again, but I would be disappointed with the last seven or eight minutes, where we got a bit ragged again, and I think the same thing happened above against Clare.

“They’re areas that we go after as a management team, why did that happen and why do we lose a bit of our shape and structure, and so look, obviously, we probably were more prepared to win that game. I think Galway are playing 13 days after the league final against Kilkenny so I think they were doing a bit more shadow-boxing than we were.

“Look, a clean sheet is what we're expecting,” he said, “that's what we're expecting from our lads and that's what is driven into our goalies as well, there's no shots coming in handy.

“Our fellas made good decisions and made good defensive plays and that's against a really, really dangerous Galway forward line.

“Patrick is training hard, he’s part of our panel, that’s the expectation we have for him and that he has for himself. He has to be doing it day in and day out for us otherwise he won’t be on the team the same as everybody else.”

The league showdown with Tipperary is the first final between the counties since 1960. It is two weeks before the championship but there will be no holding back.

“When we put on a Cork jersey we expect to win every match, that is the way we go out and represent the fans. You see the crowd here again tonight, they expect us to win games and to win matches. That’s been the tradition of Cork hurling down through the years. That’s what we expect the lads to do. But as I said our focus is on 20th April. This will be fantastic preparation for that day.”

It was an emotional evening for Cork GAA as they remembered Midleton and Cork legend Ger Fitzgerald.

“Ger was a fantastic fella, obviously a fantastic player. A great family man and a great club man. I got to meet him on loads of occasions and he was always a great fella to have a chat with, always get great advice. Always a fella you would enjoy meeting.”

Tipperary pip Clare at the death and look forward to league decider