Cork minor footballers reveal team to face Dublin in All-Ireland quarter-final

Cork head to Kilkenny tomorrow as they take on Dublin in the Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor football championship quarter-final.

Throw in is at 1pm at UPMC Nowlan Park as Cork will be looking to bounce back from their Munster final loss to Kerry and progress in the All-Ireland series.

It will have been a tough week for manager Ray O’Mahony and his management team to try and pick the players up after losing the Munster decider last Friday night at Tralee.

Having played well in the group stages they won’t have been happy with their overall display in the final, where they gave away two goals they normally wouldn’t. They also had a spell at the start of the second-half where they totally dominated the Kingdom but fell short on the scoring charts.

They will have worked on this in the last week as they aim to bounce back to winning ways, in an encounter they will be considered underdogs.

Cork will be well aware they can’t afford to make too many mistakes tomorrow against a talented Dublin side.

The Dubs retained their Leinster title recently with a good win over Kildare, coming through by 0-19 to 2-8.

Before that they had wins over Westmeath, Meath, and Louth to reach the semi-final against Offaly. And in that, they let all know they wouldn’t be giving up their title easily as they ran out winners by 6-15 to 1-8.

DANGEROUS

Early goals from Paddy Curry and Harry Curley got them off to the dream start and they never looked back. They will be just two of the players Cork will need to keep a close eye on, with others like Lenny Cahill and Ryan Mitchell, also well able to raise white and green flags.

They like to go for green flags at every opportunity and have 13 goals to their credit so far so Cork will need to be on their guard, but O’Mahony and his side will be well aware of this.

For Cork, they will need big games from the likes of Sean Coakley, Dara Sheedy, and David O’Leary, amongst others. All three can be a threat to any defence and on their day are match winners.

Frank Hurley and Gearoid Daly, will anchor the team at full-back and centre-back respectively. Daly is more than capable of bursting forward from the number six position and it is no coincidence that he is joint captain with Coakley.

So the Rebels will have to be at their best to have any chance of progressing, but you can never bet against this talented side.

CORK (Minor football v Kerry): 

Billy Curtin (Valley Rovers);

Niall O’Shea (Urhan), Frank Hurley (O’Donovan Rossa), Matthew Ahern (St Finbarr's);

Odhran Foley (Bishopstown), Gearoid Daly (Mallow), Trevor Kiely (Doneraile);

Mark O’Brien (Ballinora), Darragh Clifford (Éire Óg);

Timothy Cullinane (Ballinascarthy), Dara Sheedy (Bantry Blues), David O’Leary (Ballincollig);

Denis O’Mullane (Kilmurry), Sean Coakley (Douglas), Oier O’Callaghan (Liscarroll Churchtown Gaels).

Subs: Devin Fray (Mallow), Seán O'Leary (Kilmurry), Liam Hourihan (St Colum's), Adam Dineen (Cill na Martra), Mark Hetherington (St Finbarr's), Gary Holland (Bishopstown), Cathal Mullins (Mallow), James O'Leary (Douglas), Luke Shorten (Tadgh Mac Cártaigh).

Extended Panel: Rickey Barrett (St Finbarr's), Jack Cullinane (Bandon), Joe Lyons (Nemo Rangers), Keith McCarthy (Dohenys/Sam Maguire), Oisin McCarthy (Valley Rovers), Owen McCarthy (Clondrohid), Diarmuid O’Brien (Glanworth), James O’Riordan (Croke Rovers/Castlemagner), Tom O’Connor (Adrigole), Cian O'Sullivan (St Finbarr's), Cillian Twohig (Kilmeen), Cathal Walsh (Mitchelstown).