Pat Ryan: 'There were a lot of things sparked all over the field. I don't think we initiated any of it'

Ryan confirmed Cork captain Rob Downey suffered a dead leg. 

Cork manager Pat Ryan said he was disappointed with his side's fallow periods during the second half against Tipperary. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Cork manager Pat Ryan said he didn’t see what happened when Darragh McCarthy was red carded for an altercation with Seán O’Donoghue in the opening minute against Tipperary. 

The numerical disadvantage proved a big blow to the Premier County. Cork eased to a 15-point victory.

“I didn't see it,” said Ryan.

“Look, there were a lot of things sparked all over the field, really, in that instance. I don't think we initiated any of it, to be honest with you, but these things happen at the start of games.

“Obviously, there's probably a marker trying to be put on some of our players. I'm disappointed for Darragh, he's only a young man, I wouldn't have seen him ever being involved in anything kind of dirty before.

“As I've said all along, you can't win games in Munster with only 14 fellas on the field. It's just impossible, teams are too good.

“So, look, we should have been winning that game. We were disappointed with a couple of fallow periods in the second half again. That's something we look at with our analysis team, why did that happen."

Declan Dalton replaced the suspended Shane Barrett in the Cork line-out, and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands, scoring 1-6.

“From our point of view, Declan played really well when he went inside as well, I thought he gave us a nice bounce.

“In fairness to Alan (Connolly), he was probably carrying a small bit of a niggle at that stage and the opportunity to put Declan inside worked out well for us.” 

Cork remain unbeaten in the championship.

”I couldn't get over the analysis around why a draw above in Clare against the All-Ireland champions was a bad result,” he said. “I just couldn't get over it. We couldn't fathom it as a group.

“That Clare team is an absolutely fantastic team. Obviously there were areas we were really unhappy with but as I said above there, and maybe fellas thought I wasn't being serious, a point away to Clare was a fantastic result. 

“I'd have taken it, especially with the way things were being written about us after the league final, which were off-the-wall really. That fed in and you're talking about going up to Clare, who are a team that's built on energy, their manager is built on energy, and they were always going to bring a huge game to us up there.

“No, we didn't get any shock, we knew what it was going to be like.” 

The first phase is complete for Cork who top the table with three points. Next up is Limerick (away) on May 18.

“It gives us three weeks to recover and get a bit of energy back into our bodies.

“The Munster championship is wide open. Clare going down to a very, very good Waterford team and Peter Queally’s an excellent manager… so he got a right bounce off them.

“We got the same bit of an eye-opener last year when we played Waterford below and Walsh Park is a very hard place to go.” 

The battle for places continues to intensify.

"I thought Brian Roche and Luke Meade and Robbie O’Flynn, especially, played well when they came on.

"Robbie was out injured for a while. He's been back for two weeks, he's been absolutely flying. We maybe should have brought him on in Ennis but he was just back.

“Look, we have three weeks now so we'll have plenty of training and plenty of opportunities. When you're going from the league final to Ennis and then from Ennis to Páirc Uí Chaoimh, it's very hard to do any proper training and give any fella an opportunity to get onto the 26 or get onto the team.

“Rob Downey has a dead leg. Obviously we'll get good treatment on that. I think they kind of hogtie it or something up around the back and get plenty of ice on it. He has plenty of time to get right. Those things are very sore initially especially but I couldn't see it being a long-term injury or anything like that."