Cork minors hurlers lived up to hype with a brilliant mix of style and substance

Sat, 21 Aug, 2021 - 22:08

Eamonn Murphy

CORK entered Saturday night's game in Thurles as massive favourites to lift the All-Ireland, as they were before a sliotar was pucked in this summer's minor championship.

Having delivered as U14s and U15s in Development Squads, this group was billed as one of the most naturally talented in the modern era, but there's a big difference between hype and substance.

Ultimately, the Rebels powered to the county's first minor All-Ireland since 2001 with ease at Semple Stadium. The weight of expectation didn't make a difference to these young hurlers. It was a devasting display of power and skill, the hooking, blocking, support play and clever deliveries that saw off Clare, Limerick and Waterford already, was too much for Galway to handle.

A lot of credit there must go to Noel Furlong and his management team. This Cork team was loaded with wristy hurlers but their work-rate was incredible.

Jack Leahy and Diarmuid Healy struck 0-4 from play apiece, William Buckley 0-3 and David Cremin, promoted to the starting line-up with Tadhg O'Connell carrying an injury, took his chance with aplomb, clipping 1-2. They were sharpshooters across the attack.

However, the intensity Cork brought to the middle third provided the platform for the forwards to shine. Buckley was the official Man of the Match, but wing-back Timmy Wilk and midfielder Mikey Finn must have run him close.

Galway's Michéal Power and Oisín Lohan with Timmy Wilk of Cork battling under a puck-out. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie

Wilk was relentless tracking up and down the flank in the number seven geansaí and the Cobh club man is U17 again in 2022. Finn hurled more ball than anyone, supplemented by Cillian Tobin at midfield, and along with scoring a sideline and hitting a point from play, two of his first-half sidelines across the field was sent between the posts by powerhouse Ben O'Connor and all-action Darragh O'Sullivan.

O'Sullivan, from a storied Ballinhassig hurling stock, added two points from play to the score he shot when earning MVP in the Munster final.

Indeed his father was on the Cork minor panel of 1995, the storied squad that including Joe Deane, Séan Óg, Donal Óg and more.

Cork had a wall of bodies helping their dominant half-back line of James Dwyer, the co-captain with O'Connor who lifted the cup after, emulating his father Danny and uncle John who won underage All-Irelands with Cork, Wilk and O'Connor. They batted a series of long balls and puck-outs and hoovered up the breaks.

O'Sullivan, Kevin Lyons and James Byrne, in his most prominent display of the campaign, were teak-tough in the full-back line, with Paudie O'Sullivan an assured presence between the posts.

Ben Nyhan, in the first half, and Adam Walsh, in the second, shared the centre-forward duties in a move the selectors have used in each game. Glen Rovers inside forward Eoin O'Leary had a point from play but his assist for Cremin's goal was a joy, sending the Midleton tyro clear when he could have taken his own score.

Galway were honest and physical, chasing history themselves with the Tribe in line for five in a row in the grade, but never remotely looked like winning. Cork were five points up at the water break, nine ahead at half-time, 12 by the end of the third quarter and 14 better on the final whistle. It reflected their performances in the Munster series, never resting on their laurels, even when they were clearly in control.

Diarmuid Healy and Mikey Finn shone for the Cork minor hurlers in Thurles. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

How important actually winning an All-Ireland minor title is has become debatable of course. The last Cork group to make the final, in 2017, were bitterly disappointed to fall short against Galway but still produced senior hurlers: Seán O'Leary Hayes, Rob Downey, Ger Millerick and Ger Collins, with Daire Connery and Brian Turnbull featuring last winter.

U20 All-Irelands were annexed by hurlers who failed to even make a Munster final across three seasons; hungry to prove themselves after underperforming at U17. And that's a key point, with grade dropping from U18, predicting the likely lads for the future is harder than ever.

Healy, Leahy, O'Connor, Lyons and Buckley are the standouts now, but there's a lot of development to be done in the coming years, at club, schools and inter-county.

O'Sullivan, Wilk, Finn, Dwyer and the rest have scope to push on further.

For now, they can soak up the winning feeling: All-Ireland champions. And in style!