Furlong seeks ruthless Cork performance in Páirc rematch with Clare

Cork's Barry Walsh tackled by Clare's Matthew O'Halloran and Jamie Moylan. Pic: Eddie O'Hare

The Cork U20 team for this evening’s Munster semi-final against Clare shows seven survivors from the side that 12 months ago, at the same venue and against the same opposition, exited at this very same stage of the competition.

David O’Leary, Ben Walsh, John Murphy, Barry O’Flynn, Barry Walsh, Finn O’Brien, and Johnny Murphy - all of whom featured in the one-point defeat to Clare last year - will have been issuing one rather straightforward message to their teammates this week. 

Their message and their plea is to have no regrets coming out of Páirc Uí Chaoimh later today.

The Cork U20 class of 2025, you see, came out of Páirc Uí Chaoimh on this very Wednesday 12 months ago weighed down in regret.

Cork had nine shots on goal in the 2025 Munster semi-final. They converted not a single one. Cork registered just one wide in the opening 53 minutes. They squeezed six of them into the closing 11 minutes. They went scoreless for the closing 14 minutes.

“The key takeaway that night was that the Clare goalkeeper was man of the match. We had eight goal chances and took none of them, so our key learning was if we get into those situations again, we need to make sure we execute and make sure we're a bit more ruthless,” Cork manager Noel Furlong said this week when asked what could be mined from last year’s semi-final loss.

“The players from last year who were involved will obviously have that hurt and desire inside them to rectify that.

“Even against Clare last week, we had the same amount of goal chances, and we took four of them, so that's a big improvement from last year. If we get eight goal chances again on Wednesday, we'd hopefully be taking more than four. We expect this to be a really tight game, so we will be going after every inch we can find.” 

After defeat on the opening night, and as their subsequent three wins would attest to, Cork have grown as a group and grown into the championship.

“What we're looking for is how is the group developing and are we improving game by game?

“The round-robin campaign just finished, we finished second in a very competitive group, only lost one game and that was when we had a man sent-off in the first half. We were top scorers, top goal scorers, so there's positives everywhere.

“We came up against a Clare team last week who were undefeated, and we had a good result against them, but we're under no illusions at the same time that we need to improve this week if we want to win because the stakes are a lot higher.” 

The Cork team shows one change from that 4-19 to 2-21 victory last week. 

John Murphy is promoted to the starting team, with Cloyne’s James O’Brien dropping to the bench. Murphy hasn’t started since being sent off on the opening night against Tipp.

Cork (U20 v Clare): Ó Walsh (Youghal); D Fitzgerald (Bride Rovers), M Barrett (Carrigtwohill), D Heavin (Russell Rovers); MT Brosnan (Glen Rovers), C Garde (Lisgoold), D O’Leary (Ballincollig); Ben Walsh (Killeagh), C Noonan (Kanturk); Z Biggane (Charleville), J Murphy (Mallow), Johnny Murphy (Dromina); F O’Brien (Erin’s Own), B O’Flynn (Sarsfields), B Walsh (Killeagh).

Subs: T Walsh (Aghada), R O’Riordan (Blackrock), J Galvin (Éire Óg), J Counihan (Watergrasshill), J O’Brien (Douglas), J O’Brien (Cloyne), C Deane (Killeagh), C O’Sullivan (Na Piarsaigh), M O’Brien (Douglas).