Where is the defensive depth in Cork hurling?

STRETCH: The Barrs' Brian Hayes tries to keep the long legs of his Cork colleague Rob Downey at bay during Sunday's Cork Premier SHC final at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Save for Sunday weeks’ Cork Senior A hurling final, club auditions on Leeside wrapped up on the sound of Wayne King’s final whistle at the end of Glen Rovers and the Barrs.

Auditionees of the past three months fell into two categories. The first cohort are those attempting to break into Ben O’Connor’s Cork dressing-room. Then there are those, already part of said dressing-room, who are attempting to move themselves up Ben’s pecking order.

The standout auditionees from both categories, as is the recent trend on Leeside come county championship time, wore jerseys eight and higher.

Eoin O’Leary’s county final 2-2 added to his already impressive compilation of 3-11. The Glen Rovers corner-forward finished as the Premier Senior championship’s top-scorer from play. The 22-year-old, who wore red at minor and U20, is certain to receive a Cork invitation at some point in the near future, if he hasn’t already.

Kanturk’s Colin Walsh and his 2-16 finished third in the same scoring chart. His invite is understood to have already been issued. Older brother, Alan, justified his late-in-the-season promotion to Ben’s starting team by terrorising numerous club defenders.

Barrs midfielder Ethan Twomey, who featured in just two National League games during the spring, saw no championship minutes, and fell out of Cork’s matchday panel for the Munster final and All-Ireland semi-final, delivered 1-7 across two outstanding second-half performances in the county semi-final and final.

Micheál Mullins, another clamouring for increased summer involvement in red, was arguably Glen Rovers’ most consistent performer on the run to local honours.

Kanturk midfielder Brian O’Sullivan, his younger midfield partner Conor Noonan, Barrs centre-forward Ben Cunningham, Midleton corner-forward Paul Connaughton, and Dungourney full-forward Cillian O’Callaghan are a selection of others to either give notice of or issue a reminder of their pedigree.

Such was the patch of grass he commanded during his own playing days, it was no surprise to hear Seánie McGrath ream off a list of attackers when asked on the Irish Examiner Replay show earlier this week who, in his view, had excelled sufficiently on the club stage to garner a trial in red.

“I thought Colin and Alan Walsh have been desperately impressive. I know Alan got a look in against Offaly and Galway. I wouldn’t like for people, because of the little bit of controversy that surrounded the whole William Buckley thing… William should be there on merit, and I think Alan should be there on merit. I’d seen him loads of times, but the day above in Mallow against Sars, I said, ‘This fella can play’,” Seánie remarked.

“I would hope it is not gone past Robbie Cotter. He got 4-7 in the championship. He consistently delivers for Blackrock.”

The one defender Seánie picked out as being ready not just for a dressing-room seat in 2027 but matchday inclusion was All-Star football nominee Tommy Walsh of Kanturk. The aforementioned Buckley and Patrick Horgan were two of the more prominent forwards on whom Walsh executed fine man-marking jobs over the course of the championship.

But therein captures the disparity between the endless rollcall of potential red forwards and the much smaller number capable of stepping up further back.

Where there is an obvious need for improved rearguard depth and viable alternatives to challenge the long-established sextet, is the most credible candidate to emerge from the latest round of auditions someone whose priorities are already pinned elsewhere?

Ben handed full championship debuts to Buckley, Alan Walsh, Barry Walsh, and Hugh O'Connor this summer. That’s four forward debutants in a single championship. Diarmuid Healy walked in these new shoes 12 months earlier.

The contrast to the defensive side of the house couldn’t be more stark, and somewhat alarming. Not since Eoin Downey and Cormac O’Brien in 2023 has there been a championship debutant in the Cork defence.

In sum, three summers have come and gone without a new face emerging at the back.

The six defenders that began Cork’s 2022 All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Galway were Niall O’Leary, Damien Cahalane, Seán O’Donoghue, Rob Downey, Ciarán Joyce, and Mark Coleman. Five of those six began July’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to the same maroon opposition.

There’s consistency within that stat, but is part of the consistency stemming from a lack of competition underneath? And does the evidence of recent months point to the status quo persisting in 2027.

“If I was Ben O’Connor, what I would be looking for is more competition in our backline,” said former Rebels boss Kieran Kingston on the same Replay show.

“We have great competition up front. We have a mix of players there, because any good team now needs to have the ability to go direct when they need to but also go through the lines.

“We have that in the forward line, but I’d love to see us having more competition in our defence. I don’t think anyone could say we have 15 backs as good as 15 forwards that we have on our panel, and that is where Ben needs to focus on.

“If we could have 15 the same calibre defensively as we have in our forward line, then we are going places.”

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