Cork's fast start and unselfish play delight Ben O'Connor

The Cork hurlers scored 10 points from 10 shots for a nine-point lead inside 12 minutes against Waterford at Páirc Uí Chaoimh

Ben O'Connor is glad to have his first league match as Cork hurling manager over and done. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher

Glad of the win. Almost more glad to have the game out of the way. No more ‘first of this’ and ‘first of that’ chat. The tape has officially been cut on the era of Ben. And there’s no one happier than the new boss himself to see the scissors put away.

“There was a lot of stuff going on all week that wasn't in our control, they were talking about 'how are they going to play', 'who are they going to pick', or 'what's going to happen here'. But look, we've done very little with the lads. They're good hurlers, they know what they are at, so just let them in and let them at it. Just happy to have it out of the way, if I'm being honest,” remarked the Cork manager.

“Delighted we got a performance out of the boys. Waterford were understrength, short their Ballygunner lads. You can only beat what is in front of you. Met the small ones after, they are delighted, so there will be no grief when I go home!” 

The flying start - 10 points from 10 shots for a nine-point lead inside 12 minutes - meant suspense didn’t hang around long in this fixture. It was the period of the game where Ben was understandably most impressed.

“We got eight or nine fast points and it set the tone for the rest of the day. In that period, I don’t think we had any wides either, so shooting was good. The boys ran into good positions and played the ball around well.” 

The latter point was a key feature of goals one and three. Deccie Dalton offloaded for the opener where he could have gone himself. Alan Walsh and Alan Connolly were similarly unselfish for the third.

“That's what we're looking for - team play. There's no point having a shot that you've a 50% chance of scoring, if there's a fella inside with a 70% chance. We work hard in training at that. It's nice when it pays off in a match because you can show the clips during the week.” 

The aforementioned Connolly was the day’s designated freetaker. That role, though, has no long-term fixed home, insisted Ben.

“Alan took them today, we'll see who will take them the next day. If you look at all them fellas, they're all hitting them for their clubs. So it's only to get decided on who we're going to go with.

“Instead of being at home, hitting them in front of 200, 300 people, you have 20,000 looking at you. So it's just to get fellas used to that.”