CORK manager Pat Ryan indicated that an appeal against the red card issued to Eoin Downey in Sunday’s Allianz Hurling League Division 1 semi-final defeat to Kilkenny is likely.

Downey was sent off by referee John Keenan after a shemozzle involving a number of players in front of the dugouts, while there were also a raft of bookings.

Ryan felt that Downey was harshly singled out and, with a suspension set to apply during the upcoming Munster SHC, an appeal is likely.

“We just have to have a look at it,” said Ryan.

“To be honest with you, I didn’t see Eoin doing too much. There were 25 fellas involved. I think a fella getting sent off for something like that and he’s going to miss a championship match for a league game.

“Even David Fitzgerald last week for Clare getting sent off and missing a championship match, I think it’s totally unfair. They are separate competitions and I think they should be treated that way.”

Regarding the 2-22 to 0-22 defeat overall, Ryan accepted that Cork could have played a lot better but he praised his team for not giving up, even when down to 14 players.

“I’m disappointed in the level of our performance,” he said, “but, in fairness, we came back.

“We started very poorly in the first half, the first 15 minutes, then got back into the game and we were down a goal at half-time.

Unfortunately, then we gave away a sloppy enough penalty and the sending-off made it difficult but I’m very proud of our fellas, the way they fought in the second half. 

"We brought it back to three or four points and had opportunities to bring it back even closer.

“We probably should have used the ball a small bit [better] but in fairness, Kilkenny used the ball well there with the spare man in the second half and got two or three handy scores that we didn’t get.

“In the first half, obviously, Kilkenny were playing with the wind and got on the ball and got a few scores. We gave away a few sloppy scores early and got them into the game. We had a couple of opportunities where we went through ourselves – Tommy [O’Connell] could have taken a score but gave the ball to Conor Cahalane, small things like that.”

The lack of a goal meant Cork never really worried Kilkenny late on, but there were still positives to take and lessons to learn.

“Yeah, the one thing I’d say is the fellas are fighting for us,” Ryan said, “and you could see that even in the second half.

“Look, obviously we just need to use the ball a small bit better. We had a couple of great opportunities there in the second half where we could have carried the ball a bit more and given it to the overlapping man. We could have created a few more scores off [that].

“I thought we had a lot of soft wides even in the second half that would have brought us back into the game. We got it back to three or four points at one stage and seven minutes went up on the clock. If we could have tagged on another one or two, we make it tough for them.”

CAMP

Cork will undertake a training camp in Enfield, County Meath in mid-April, a fortnight before hosting Waterford at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in their first Munster match.

Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng will have a chance to win silverware in his first year in charge when they face Limerick in the final. Naturally, he was pleased with how his side dealt with the challenge.

“We knew Cork had arguably been one of the form teams in the League along with Limerick,” he said, “we knew it was going to be a tough test but we're really happy with the attitude right from the very start, I thought we were hunting in packs and chasing hard.

“Our hurling was really good and we played with a lot of confidence. The second half, the sending off had a big bearing on it too but in terms of our attitude and the way we went about it, very happy.”