Cork’s confidence is back, and it’s being expressed out loud

Considering the nature of last July's All-Ireland final defeat, it takes remarkable self-belief to be as openly ambitious as Alan Connolly was after Cork's victory in Kilkenny

It’s unlikely that Cork manager Ben O’Connor will have taken Alan Connolly to task for his TG4 interview. Pic: ©INPHO

Waiting to greet the Cork players outside their dressing room after last Sunday’s win in Kilkenny was their performance coach Gerry Hussey.

Alan Connolly had spoken to Micheál Ó Domhnaill live on TG4 before seeing Hussey, but some of the Galway native’s work may have rubbed off on the Blackrock man in that interview.

Asked by Ó Domhnaill about his earlier penalty miss, Connolly was unfazed. “It went wide,” he laughed and added, “I know the lads will back me if I miss 10 penalties in a row. I back myself every day.” It was in his final offering that Connolly’s confidence was most evident. Ó Domhnaill wondered what Cork’s aim was for the remaining Division 1A matches. “Keep winning, keep winning,” replied the 24-year-old. “Win the league, win Munster and win the All-Ireland, that’s our goal. That’s what we’re going to do.” 

You wouldn’t go comparing an utterance at the end of a league game on March 1 to something as emphatic as Ger Loughnane’s half-time declaration at half-time in an All-Ireland final, but Connolly’s exuberance obviously made for interesting listening.

"I was delighted for him, great to see him get a goal".💬

Smaointe Barry Walsh agus Alan Connolly tar éis an chluiche.

BEO/LIVE AR TG4TV 📺
#AllianzLeagues #GAABeo pic.twitter.com/umQfghDJhm

— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) March 1, 2026

Was he really saying the quiet bit out loud? His words weren’t a whole lot different to those he delivered at the previous Monday’s media event to promote the Kilkenny game. “Every game we want to win. We want to win everything.” Connolly hails from a county not known for their shyness (no, we’re not going to mention the other word ending in “ness”) and he was speaking after Cork extended their winning run in Division 1A to eight games over 12 months.

Perhaps Hussey had nothing to do with the message the player was conveying. But it takes remarkable self-belief to be so openly ambitious after the heartache of last July.

Connolly has been party to back-to-back All-Ireland final defeats. He scored one point in each and was replaced in both games. But his mettle, at least the façade of it, appears sturdy. His hurling too. Free-taking duties have been transferred to him now that Patrick Horgan has retired and 15 points from placed balls in four games is a tidy return.

Fewer sports walk hand-in-hand with humility more than hurling. In such a close community, threatening to even peek above one’s station risks widespread ridicule. It’s where wearing a new helmet can be considered getting notions. An Instagram post promoting a product deemed fancy.

But occasionally there is a genuine case of pridefulness. You need look no further than Cork’s opponents this Saturday. In January 2019, newly minted All-Ireland winning medallist Seamus Flanagan virtually claimed Limerick were untouchable. “You can’t outwork us because we’re going to outwork anyone that we play.

“You can plan all you want for us, mark us, drop a sweeper, drop two sweepers, but once we work harder than you, we’re going to beat you, we’re going to get those hooks, get those blocks, get those scores and I don’t know how you can plan against that.” 

Kilkenny obviously did later that season and Flanagan was forced to eat his words and none of them had to be twisted, unlike the smiles and comments about donkeys of yesteryear.

Eleven months ago, Paddy Power paid out early on Cork lifting the Liam MacCarthy Cup, a publicity stunt that then manager Pat Ryan later criticised. But, as has been mentioned before, if there’s one county who should be able to lean into their expectation, it’s Cork.

It’s unlikely Ben O’Connor will have taken Connolly to task for his interview. “Win the league, put that to bed and go after the next one then,” he himself said last year before his appointment.

For O’Connor, the 2025 All-Ireland final is very much in the past. Eoin Downey has spoken about the need to use that second half against Tipperary as “fuel”, insisting it “can't be used as a negative”.

That should be easier said than done. What happened on July 20 last year might be written off quicker if wasn’t for the trimming Limerick gave Cork in the Munster SHC round game two months earlier. It would be easy to dismiss if it wasn’t the second mid-teen All-Ireland defeat the county had suffered in five seasons.

Cork will always have hurling but without their traditional air of conviction, it is naked. Connolly reminded us last Sunday that the Division 1A and Munster champions believe they remain fully dressed. And that might be enough.