'We’ll go down to Limerick and we will have a cut' - Cork boss Ben O'Connor ready for league final

A strong-looking Rebel team had far too much firepower for Offaly on Saturday.

HAPPY DAYS: Cork manager Ben O'Connor. Pic: ©INPHO/David Ribeiro.

Cork hurling manager Ben O’Connor is exactly where he wants to be. After unearthing a few new faces during the league, there is a Division 1A final against Limerick to look forward to.

“They are the best team in the country for the last 10 years,” he says of the Shannonsiders.

“It will be a tough battle. We’ve been beaten once this year and it was by Limerick. We’ll go down to Limerick and we will have a cut and we will see where that gets us.

“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.

"Today we got six goals and we probably should have had another three or four. At least we're making chances and hopefully the next day if we get the chances, we'll take them again.”

It was a strong-looking Rebel team that had far too much firepower for Offaly, and the return of Pádraig Power after a long layoff due to a cruciate injury provides more options.

"More delighted for Paudie Power than anyone else. 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. Delighted with the result but it was more for Paudie than anyone else.

"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.

"Yeah, every fella... Brian Keating came on and scored, Hugh (O’Connor) was very good again tonight. I hate picking out people. Barry (Walsh) then has Under-20 next Wednesday and the week after, the Wednesday before the league final.

“Look, we'll have to try and manage Barry as well. He's only a young fella so we don't want to be giving him any chance of getting injuries. Ian Jones 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.” It all adds up to a hectic April that will involve a league final and the start of the round-robin championship.

“Tonight was a game to get out of the way and get a win and make sure we were in the league final, and now we are in the league final. We have massive games from here on in, the boys are chomping at the bit to try and get into the 26 first and into the team. The hardest thing for us at the moment is to pick the panel for the games.

“It is hard when you see the effort fellas are putting in. That will all sort itself out as well. In two weeks time we will have a day out in the bus and hopefully we will have a good day down there.

“We would have been looking for a match if we didn’t qualify for the final. So what better way than to qualify for a match against Limerick. They’ll be saying you’ll be minding yourself now but if you’ve a challenge match you could pick up an injury just as easily.

“Delighted to have another competitive game to get into the lads.”