Ben O'Connor is the chosen one for most, though not all, to become new Cork manager

Cork GAA has, more recently, promoted a policy of succession planning which is fine in theory but doesn’t always deliver the best results, as they've already found to their cost.

FAVOURITE: An All-Ireland winner as a player and coach to the county's successful 2023 Under 20 campaign, Ben O'Connor, is seen as having the necessary credentials to replace Pat Ryan. Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile.

THE king is dead, long live the king and all that. The length of time between Cork GAA followers’ shock at Pat Ryan’s departure as senior hurling manager and speculation starting over who replaces him could be measured with an egg-timer.

The reasons for Ryan’s departure are manifold. Cork GAA had already put a new agreement on the table for him to continue into a fourth season and beyond as the senior boss. But given the number of issues, extraneous or not, personal and public, that Pat Ryan has had to come to terms with in 2025 alone, perhaps it is no galloping shock that he has decided to cool the jets.