Cork hurlers ready to bounce back against Waterford

While their situation is not as precarious as their footballing counterparts, victory against Waterford on Sunday would be a most-welcome tonic for the Cork hurling team.

SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh is the venue for a 3.45pm throw-in as the Allianz Hurling League Division 1 Group A reaches the halfway point. After losses away to Clare and at home to Kilkenny, Cork are in need of points, for a few reasons.

Thankfully, unlike the footballers, the hurlers’ championship position is not in question. For there to be even the slightest hint of jeopardy on that front, Kerry would first need to be promoted from the Joe McDonagh Cup to expand the Munster Championship to six teams and Cork would have to finish bottom of that group to be relegated to the second tier.

However, there is some bit of future participation tied up in this year’s league as the format for next year will see a five-division model with seven teams in each section.

Composition for the revamped competition will depend on finishing spots this year. The top three in each of Groups A and B will guaranteed their places and the last one will come down to a play-off between the two sides finishing in fourth.

Right now, Clare, Kilkenny, Waterford, Limerick, Tipperary and Galway would be taking the automatic top-flight spots with Wexford and Dublin clashing for the last allocation and Cork would have to make do with life in Division 2.

That may not be a bad thing, either – games against weaker opposition would serve as opportunities to blood players while it’s worth noting that in 2017 and 2018, Galway and Limerick respectively won the All-Ireland after playing in the second tier of the league, which was then the six-team Division 1B.

Asked after the one-point loss to Kilkenny if there was a bit more pressure now in terms of doing enough to secure a top-three finish, Cork manager Pat Ryan was up front about the priorities.

“To be honest now, I’m not thinking one bit about next year’s league!” he laughed.

“I’m only thinking about this year’s league. [Cork County Board secretary] Kevin O’Donovan might not want to hear that but I’m only worried about us preparing for championship.

“Where we are in the league next year won’t make too much difference if we can have a very good championship.”

That is the bottom line and, certainly, if Cork had beaten Clare and Kilkenny, nobody would be anointing them as the heirs to Limerick’s throne. Indeed, in the last two years, Cork reached the final and semi-final respectively in the league and struggled to build on that.

After defeat to Waterford in the 2022 league decider, Cork lost to Limerick and then Clare in the championship and it was only a make-or-break win away to Waterford that got things back on track. Then, while they were undefeated in their five regular-season games in 2023, defeat to Kilkenny in the semi-final was followed by a championship campaign that saw them finish fourth in Munster, missing out on the All-Ireland series.

FATAL

The great unknown is that we don’t have the surety that a good championship would definitely follow a poor league and, in any case, fatalism is always a strong emotion in sports fans – every silver lining has a cloud.

It’s not an excuse to point out that Cork had more players involved in the Fitzgibbon Cup than any other county and so had to shuffle their deck accordingly for the first two matches. A thinning injury list should also help, while the break since the Kilkenny match will have afforded management and players more time to work together.

Speaking earlier this week, Ryan highlighted the benefits of having that longer period of time.

“We were delighted,” he says, “we’ve got some great training sessions in.

It was the first time that we had 30-odd players back on the field and that was great for us.

“We feel that we’re in a good enough place going into the Waterford game. Obviously, being at home, it’s a game we’d like to win and it’s important that we put in a good performance on Sunday.”

Waterford were winners over Offaly in the opening round before losing at home to Clare. Division 1 hurling next year is on the agenda for Davy Fitzgerald’s side too and of course they have also had a fortnight’s break.

They will provide a test and, if it’s one Cork can overcome, the landscape will appear brighter.