Niall O'Leary on Cork's toughest test: Galway were incredible in the Leinster final...

Cork defender Niall O’Leary says the Rebels’ growing momentum, the surge in support, and the lessons of the Munster final loss are all feeding into their preparations for Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Galway at Croke Park (3.30pm).

The Castlelyons man was speaking after being named the 96FM/C103 Sports Award winner for May, in association with co-sponsors Rochestown Park Hotel.

O’Leary admitted the recognition was a proud moment, not just personally but for his club.

“It’s great. It’s my first time ever getting something like this, so it’s lovely to be recognised,” he said.

“And I’m not the first Castlelyons man to get it either — a few lads have been up here before me. We’ve had a couple of great years in Castlelyons and a few fellas have done very well, so fair play to them too.” 

Cork’s season has already taken in two finals, the Division 1A League decider and the Munster final, and while both slipped away, O’Leary says the group never lost sight of the bigger picture.

“You’re always disappointed losing finals,” he says.

“You go out every year to win silverware, and when things don’t go your way it’s disappointing. But we’re still lucky enough to be in the championship and we’re there towards the end of it now.

“A big game coming up against Galway. It’s still great to be hurling. It’s disappointing not to have silverware, but there’s still a great chance to win something yet this year.” 

Cork’s unbeaten run through the Munster round-robin — the first time they’ve managed that — was a significant marker, and O’Leary says it didn’t happen by accident.

“We put a huge emphasis on every game this year. Every fella rowed in behind it. We really felt we could get a good result every day, and things went our way. That brings huge momentum into the rest of the season.” 

The Munster final defeat to Limerick still stings, particularly given Cork led for so long in dreadful conditions.

“It was disappointing to lose by a point at the finish, tough one,” he states.

“But looking back, there were a lot of things we didn’t do well and a lot we could work on. And I think we’ve fixed a lot of those things since.

“Conditions didn’t help either — not great hurling weather for June. But the championship is still there to be played and hopefully things go our way and we might get another go at Limerick.” 

Cork’s All-Ireland quarter-final win over Offaly was expected. O’Leary wasn’t one of them.

Offaly have been flying. You see it in Leinster how well they’re going. 

"You can’t take any team for granted. Our focus was on bringing what we’d worked on in training onto the pitch. We got great weather, the lads hurled really well, and we created a lot of goal chances. It worked out for us.

“Offaly kept plugging away. They’re young and developing. We’ve played them a few times and they’ve put it up to us. Things just didn’t work out for them the last day.” 

TOUGHEST TEST

Attention now is firmly on Galway this weekend, the Leinster champions and a team moving along nicely in 2026.

“We played them in a league game in Salthill this year and they really put it up to us. Probably the toughest league game we had,” O’Leary said.

“They’ve improved a lot since. Younger lads coming through, huge ability. 

They looked incredible in the Leinster final. It’s going to be a really tough game — probably the toughest yet this year.

“We’ve huge experience in the group now. You saw the impact from the bench the last day. That’ll be a big bonus.” 

And then there’s the support — 40,000 in Thurles against Offaly for a game Cork were widely expected to win.

“It’s unreal. The support is huge. We get massive benefit from it. When things get tough, they get behind us. We always say it — we have the best supporters in Ireland.”