Young Cork hurlers who were unlucky to miss out on league panel

CORK hurling manager Pat Ryan recently announced the panel for the year ahead. 

What was supposed to be a 36-man squad included 37 hurlers, which probably illustrates just how difficult it was for Ryan and his selectors to narrow the squad down to a workable size.

There will have been a number of players who will no doubt have felt hard done by.  Midleton are represented in the panel by Brion Saunderson, Tommy O’Connell and Conor Lehane, but Sean O’Leary-Hayes, Sam Quirke and Cormac Beausang missed out.

Ballinhassig's Ger Collins had been back-up to his brother Patrick but has been usurped by All-Ireland U20 winning net-minder Saunderson, while the likes of Ballinora’s Shane Kingston, Kanturk’s Brian O’Sullivan and Ballygiblin’s Darragh Flynn would have their fans too.

Ultimately, when you have an existing panel of senior players being augmented by three All-Ireland U20 winning teams in the space of just four years then there are going to be casualties, with quality players missing out, and the margins can be incredibly small.

BITE

The obvious hope is that this ‘healthy’ competition for places will drive Cork onwards and upwards, and make them legitimate contenders for Limerick's All-Ireland crown but there are never any guarantees either.

Saunderson was joined in the 37-man list by captain Micheál Mullins, Eoin Downey and Ben Cunningham as graduates from the 2023 All-Ireland U20 winning crew. It was telling that no current U20s were included, although you would imagine that the likes of Darragh O’Sullivan, William Buckley and Diarmuid Healy will be closely monitored.

No two Cork hurling supporters are likely to pick the same two panels but there can be no denying that Pat Ryan has left himself with options all over the pitch.

A quick browse of the make-up of the squad would suggest that 11 of the 37 players can be considered contenders for spots in the full-back line, 11 more being legitimate options for the half-backs. With a few like Ger Millerick, the Downey’s, Daire O’Leary and Cormac O’Brien being in the intersection part of this particular Venn Diagram, as they can play in both defensive lines.

Similarly, you could argue that 10 of the squad are possible midfield selections, with 12 and 9 in the half- and full-forward lines, respectively.

By this, we mean that some players can be considered as candidates for numerous lines on the pitch. Tim O’Mahony and Mark Coleman could legitimately be considered for any line in the middle eight, for example.

The real conundrum will be in whittling that number down to the 15 that will start Cork's opening championship fixture against Waterford on April 21.

Every year a lot is made of the new faces in the Cork panel but in reality, the likelihood is that it will be a lot of the same faces Ryan will turn to to ensure that Cork emerge out of Munster this year. 

Possibly the biggest question is what roles the likes of Tim O’Mahony, Mark Coleman and Darragh Fitzgibbon will have in the side.

From the team that was selected to face Clare in the league last weekend, it looks as though the squad will be used widely throughout the campaign. 

It must be noted how important it is that Cork finish in the top three places this year in Division 1A, as it was announced in December that the hurling leagues were going to be completely restructured. The final tables in 2024 will determine a county's starting league position in 2025. 

The top three sides in 1A and 1B, plus the fourth-placed team with the best record, will make up 1A in 12 months.

Cork will certainly want to be in the 1A pot next year, so even with experimentation this year, results also have to be bagged.