Cork boss Ben O’Connor: 'They are trying to take the manliness out of the game'

'They don’t want any dust-up, they don’t want any bit of blood split, they don’t want a hurley broke. They want to make it a nice game for my little Johnny at home'

Sun, 01 Feb, 2026 - 10:30

Maurice Brosnan

THE question was specifically about whether the maor foirne should return. Ben O’Connor’s answer focused more on his fundamental unease with the direction of the game itself.

The Cork hurling manager was pleased with a showing that contained everything you want from the league: a proper test and the chance to dog it out. Despite a poor start, Cork recovered to dominate the second half and earn a two-point victory over Galway at Pearse Stadium.

“You can’t get messages out to the field,” said O’Connor of the changes at half-time.

“It isn’t right, in my opinion, that you can’t. In training all week you can tell fellas this and tell them that, then you go into a match and can’t get information in. They have to figure out themselves inside.”

There was no shortage of bite in Pearse Stadium. Twice in the first half referee Mícheál Kennedy had to deal with flare-ups between the teams. On the sideline, the Cork management were animated and vocal. Mark Coleman may have been fortunate to receive only a yellow card after his hurley caught Cathal Mannion high, but by and large the game was hard and physical without crossing the line.

So, back to the difficulty in relaying messages. Time to re-introduce the running selector, a role which was discontinued in 2021?

“We’re gone like soccer, aren’t we? Black cards, red cards, yellow cards, technical areas,” said O’Connor with typical directness.

“We are following that game. Look, that is the fellas above trying to cleanse hurling. That is what they are trying to do, if you want to be fair about it.

“They don’t want any dust-up, they don’t want any bit of blood split, they don’t want a hurley broke. They want to make it a nice game for my little Johnny at home. Genuine hurling people don’t want that. They want a good, hard physical game.

“No one is hurt when it is played that way. There wasn’t a dirty stroke pulled outside there tonight. No one got hurt. That is higher above, they are trying to take the manliness out of the game, in my opinion.”

Ben O'Connor: 'They want to make it a nice game for my little Johnny at home'. Pic: James Crombie, Inpho

This, it should be noted, was a satisfied O’Connor. His team had delivered what was asked of them. Next, they face All-Ireland champions Tipperary at home.

“Last Saturday, we were on the ball straight away. I suppose that was the pressure we were under last Saturday, for the first 20 minutes we were able to do as we liked. Whereas we weren’t tonight. We were under a bit of pressure. To be fair about it, Galway should have been out of sight. They had a lot of wides.

"We chatted with the lads at half-time. They weren’t happy with what they came up with after. We rectified it in the second half. A dogged win. Exactly what you want in the league. Good fighting attitude out of fellas. It was nice to get the two points at the end of the day.”

He concluded: “We knew coming up here we were going to get a battle. They put it up to Tipp last Saturday night. Ran out of steam in the end, back home for their first league game here tonight, that is the way it goes. When you have a home league game, it is definitely worth a few scores to you.

“We’d a fierce travelling crowd tonight but last week we had 20,000. It does make a difference. We are delighted for it and we’ll have the same now next Saturday night (for Tipperary). Can’t wait to get up there on Saturday night at the Pairc.”

Brian Hayes on the double as Cork turn around seven point deficit to win in Galway