Three reasons the Cork hurlers beat Kilkenny

BELIEF

It’s easy to overlook how far Cork have come as a group over the past year. After losing the Munster SHC semi-final to Limerick last June, it was far from inevitable that the team would bounce back to reach both the All-Ireland final and now the league final, but to do so is a sign of the character within the squad.

Beating Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi obviously brought an injection of confidence and it meant that, despite falling six points behind on Saturday, there was never a hint of panic.

STRENGTH IN DEPTH

Not so long ago, the notion of Cork replacing Patrick Horgan in the closing stages of a drawn knockout game would have been unthinkable, but it’s exactly what happened on Saturday – albeit just after he had landed a pair of points to tie the game.

Horgan got little change from Huw Lawlor but that can happen and he will be back just as strong. However, that management felt that they had enough options to call the Glen Rovers man ashore is a sign of the growing squad depth and Jack O’Connor provided the assist for Fitzgibbon’s goal.

STRONG FINISH

An obvious one but a sign of how the fitness in the team is such that they were moving away from Kilkenny as the game ended rather than hanging on. Trailing by a point before Fitzgibbon’s goal, Cork made sure that the lead was buttressed as he and Conor Lehane tacked on points. The addition of Stephen Casey as strength and conditioning coach was hailed as a strong move and this underlined it.