Ben O'Connor 'more delighted for Paudie Power than anyone else' after Cork beat Offaly

Cork scored six goals in their final round league game against Offaly but manager Ben O'Connor felt his side could have score "three or four more"

After a long injury layoff, Pádraig Power scored two points in 20 minutes off the bench for Cork against Offaly. Pic: Tyler Miller/Sportsfile

National Hurling League Division 1A: Cork 6-26 Offaly 0-20

In his first year as Cork hurling manager Ben O’Connor has ticked a lot of the right boxes. He makes no secret of the fact he wants to win every game, and as league titleholders the ambition to achieve will be even greater when they visit Limerick in a massive Shannonside showdown on Easter Sunday.

Travelling to their rivals' backyard makes it even more significant. The date is just two weeks away from Tipperary and a highly-anticipated Munster SHC opener.

After a recent training camp in Portugal there was a pep in their step on Saturday in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. A dominant 24-point victory over Offaly in front of an attendance of 19,653 rounded off a strong league campaign.

Fourteen green flags spread across six games showed how clinical they can be - albeit none were scored against Limerick in their eight-point defeat the first weekend in March.

"Here we got six goals and we probably should have had another three or four,” was O’Connor’s assessment.

“At least we're making chances and hopefully the next day if we get the chances, we'll take them again.

"Luckily enough for us, coming up to half-time we were gifted two goals and that was the difference then. There was a nice breeze there as well, so that was always going to help us in the second half.

“Fellas battled in the second half and when they clicked into gear, they were well on top. We were winning 50-50s in the second half that we weren't winning in the first half and I suppose they got the handle on the way Offaly were playing as well.

“We’ve no injuries to report. Alan Connolly got a bang on the ankle but no other injuries so it was a good night's work.” 

Those quick-fire goals were courtesy of Brian Hayes and captain Darragh Fitzgibbon, this despite the first-half excellence of Offaly ‘keeper Liam Hoare.

When you add in Barry Walsh’s major in the fifth minute, it led to a 3-10 to 0-7 interval lead.

The Killeagh starlet is still Under-20. “Barry has Under-20 next Wednesday and the week after, the Wednesday before the league final,” O’Connor explained.

“Look, we'll have to try and manage Barry. He's only a young fella so we don't want to be giving him any chance of getting injuries. Ian Jones (S&C) will sort that out. He'll tell us what to do with him and we'll just follow his advice. He's Under-20, so he'll be with the 20s.” 

Second-half goals from Hayes (45), Fitzgibbon (46) and Tim O’Mahony (50) left an already relegated Johnny Kelly’s side - for whom Adam Screeney, Dan Ravenhill and Brian Duignan did most of the scoring - in deep trouble.

They will quickly have to pick themselves up for their Leinster Championship first round against Dublin in four weeks. In contrast, Cork could do no wrong.

Fourteen different scorers, including a brace from substitute Pádraig Power who returned after a long layoff due to a cruciate injury.

"More delighted for Paudie Power than anyone else,” his manager said. “He’s 13 or 14 months out. He got meaningful game time, got his couple of scores and got through it okay, which was the main thing.

"We all know how good Paudie can be but it's not easy for him. We had hoped to give him game time earlier in the league but he just wasn't ready, so tonight was ideal and he got 20 minutes into his legs so that, even before anything else, is a confidence boost for himself. I'm sure that Paudie will have a big part to play in this team.” 

With so many options available, it is a selection headache for management, but the Newtownshandrum man wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Whoever trains the best for the next two weeks, the boys know it and that is the way we’ve been picking the team all along. Fellas say you’re experimenting and doing this and that.

“We’ve been picking the teams on training form and if you look at it, some fellas have played every game, that will tell you they are going very well at training every week.

“Going forward that is the way we will do it. We have every faith in every fella in our panel. Any fella that is training well will be on the team.” 

Scorers for Cork: D Fitzgibbon (2-2, 0-1 free), A Connolly (0-8, frees), B Hayes (2-1), B Walsh and T O’Mahony (1-0 each), M Coleman (0-3), S Barrett, D Dalton (0-1 free), W Buckley and P Power (0-2 each), E Downey, H O’Connor, B Keating and R O’Flynn (0-1 each).

Scorers for Offaly: A Screeney (0-7, 4 frees), D Ravenhill (0-4), B Duignan (0-3), D Bourke (0-2), B Kavanagh, S Bourke, R Ravenhill and J Clancy (0-1 each).

CORK: P Collins; N O'Leary, C Joyce, S O’Donoghue; E Downey, R Downey, M Coleman; T O'Mahony, T O’Connell; D Fitzgibbon (Capt), S Barrett, H O'Connor, B Walsh, A Connolly, B Hayes.

Subs: W Buckley for B Walsh, D Dalton for A Connolly (both half-time), R O’Flynn for B Hayes (48), P Power for D Fitzgibbon (52), B Keating for T O’Mahony (59).

OFFALY: L Hoare; C King, B Conneely, B Kavanagh; R Ravenhill, K Sampson (Capt), D Shirley; E Kelly, D Ravenhill; T Guinan, D Bourke, C Doyle; O Kelly, B Duignan, A Screeney.

Subs: L Nolan for O Kelly, C Spain for E Kelly (both half-time), S Bourke for C King (46), J Clancy for C Doyle (54), E Cahill for T Guinan (63).

Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick).