Settled Cork footballers moving in the right direction with more pressure on the hurlers

WITH both the Cork footballers and hurlers in championship action this weekend it seems strange to think, that for once, there is more certainty around the starting line-up of the footballers.

In recent years it has sometimes felt like the footballers have almost always been shorn half of their panel, due to various injuries, and although Rory Maguire and Cathail O’Mahony are currently out, it will be a strong panel that John Cleary will be bringing down west on Saturday.

One thing that Cork are going to have to address if they are going to have a chance in Killarney this weekend is their slow starts in every game, as they have not yet led at half time in any competitive fixture in 2024, despite playing eight league and championship games to date.

That’s a fair enough stat for the opening three games, as being six down to Donegal and three to Louth and Cavan turned into three defeats, but they have won four and drawn one of the five games since, despite being two down to Fermanagh, five down to Kildare, level against Meath, three down to Armagh and one down in their Munster quarter-final tie at home to Limerick.

Of course, the other side to that particular coin is that it shows the Cork are now a very good second-half team, as they are obviously finishing matches really well to have managed to pick up these results.

This would indicate that, as a panel, Cork have moved to the next level in terms of strength and conditioning, while it also illustrates a steeliness and character in the side, and it also hints that the Cork bench is managing to impact games late on too.

Jack O’Connor’s 2023 All-Ireland runners-ups are eight-point favourites with the bookies for this one, which seems a reasonable call considering their status in the game right now versus where Cork are coming from. Still, Cork will feel that they are going in the right direction and should relish the challenge of trying to gain their first victory in Fitzgerald’s Stadium in 29 years.

On 23 July, 1995 Cork last won in Killarney, under the tutelage of Billy Morgan, on a scoreline of 1-9 to 0-15, when seven points from Colin Corkery, three from Don Davis, two from Ciaran O’Sullivan and one each from Niall Cahalane, Joe Kavanagh and Mark O’Sullivan doing the damage. The home of Kerry football has never been an easy place to go, but you would not have thought that day that Cork would be waiting this long for another victory there.

It's probably unlikely that Cork will end the winless streak on Saturday, but they will certainly have a puncher's chance. Starting well will be crucial though.

On Sunday the Cork hurlers are three points favourites for their Munster Hurling Championship opener away to Waterford in Walsh Park, but it has all the hallmarks of a banana skin about it, so Cork will need to bring their A game east.

The nature of the round-robin structure of this championship means that not even the five-in-a-row chasing Limerick, or the recent league champions Clare, will be feeling overly confident before a ball is hit in anger in the province. Lose your opening round tie and you are practically staring down the barrel of elimination, so it is only natural to feel vulnerable before that first match.

The general feeling is that Waterford are not in a great place right now and that they will be one of the two counties to fail to make it out of Munster, but they are a proud hurling county and have the capability of beating anyone on their day, even if they do look like unlikely All-Ireland contenders at this juncture.

RATTLED

The Déise finished bottom of the round-robin table last year, but they rattled Limerick in the opening round in Semple Stadium, going down by just two points. Pat Ryan’s side will have to expect a similar show of resilience on Sunday One of the big talking points around the Cork hurlers for the past few months has been around what the forward line is going to look like come the championship. 

Cork hurling fans have been wondering as to whether Cork will go with a more physical attacking unit this year, and what roles veterans like Patrick Horgan, Seamus Harnedy and Conor Lehane will have in this team. Well, finally the talking can stop this weekend, with a lot of those questions about to be answered.