Despite final disappointment, Coleman and Cork eager once more in 2026

It’s not a case of looking back in anger for Blarney man Mark Coleman as he considers this past season to have been a marked improvement on 2024.

Wed, 17 Dec, 2025 - 07:27

John Fogarty

The Cork players and new management are still at the getting-to-you-know stages but Mark Coleman is feeling the excitement as 2026 beckons.

And it’s not a case of looking back in anger for the Blarney man as he considers this past season to have been a marked improvement on 2024.

He says none of the players are feeling like they can’t bounce back from that second consecutive All-Ireland final defeat, irrespective of its chastening nature.

“I think nobody sees it as that. It's very much that you have to look at the team as a whole and see that there's a young team there, and if you look at [20]23, ’24, ’25, it's been better every year.

“You have to look at it that way and that ’26 is going to be another step in the right direction, because I think ’25 was probably better than ’24 in terms of a bit more consistency and better performances and stuff like that. You have to look at it that way and look at ’26 again as another opportunity to build on that.”

Coleman is heading back to training in Cork after this interview as the players build up their fitness ahead of the Co-Op Superstores League, beginning with a clash with Limerick in TUS Gaelic Grounds on January 7.

But engagement with new manager Ben O’Connor and his hurling coaches is minimal right now.

For instance, Coleman never trained under Niall O’Halloran, who left earlier this month.

“We haven't had much interaction so far this time of year, with no games and stuff like that,” says the 2017 All Star, who turns 28 next week. “It's very much strength-and-conditioning-based at the moment.

“It’s been a big change, really. I suppose there’s a lot of new faces around in the backroom team and the panel as well. Naturally enough, it's always a tough time of year to go back training – dark nights, cold, wet – but on the whole, it's good, exciting to have a new management team. Everyone has a point to prove again, so, it's all exciting.”

And Coleman can see why a new management team can help ensure put the negative elements of 2025 behind them.

“Obviously, it was disappointing to see Pat [Ryan] go, but maybe it brings that bit of freshness again with a lot of new faces around in the backroom team and stuff.

“They'll probably drive it on another bit, it's their first year and stuff like that. Maybe – like, it's probably not what we were thinking at the time when Pat left – but it definitely brings a bit of freshness into it.”

Of course, he and his team-mates have chatted about what happened in the second half against Tipperary in July. More talks are planned.

“We've all spoken about the final. Even the week after it, there was nobody shying away from it or anything like that. When you're with your friends, you can talk about anything, so of course we've spoken about it.

“Obviously, you're not going to just forget about it and put it to the back of your mind, because you need to take the learnings from it. There probably are a few things that we sit down and might try to figure out, but it's a difficult one to talk about.”

Going into his 11th season, Coleman’s greater resilience means he is more capable of digesting what happened and moving on. Aside from that, he knows he is a changed hurler from when he burst onto the scene in 2016.

“I suppose I'm a different player in a way, in terms of when I came in first, I was very much a small, scrawny, little half-back. I was trying to get on loose ball around the place.

“Whereas now, the way the game's gone, it's now reverted back to a bit more traditional at times, and you need to be that bit more physical around the half-back line and you develop physically in the gym as you get older.

“It's probably different in that way because the game has demanded it, really – you need to be a bit more engaging, physically, around the half-back line.

“I suppose I wouldn't be seen as a defensive player, but I don't think it's necessarily a weak point of mine or or anything. Maybe it was in the past, but certainly not anymore, really, I would say.

“But, naturally enough, like, there's probably people who are better defenders than hurlers, and their hurling ability wouldn't get as much credit as it deserves, either.”