Cork v Clare: Raft of attacking talent takes minding, for both teams
Cork's Brian Hayes tries to get away from David McInerney of Clare during the Allianz HL Division 1 Group A game at Cusack Park in Ennis in February of this year. Picture: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
While Shane O’Donnell had made his championship debut against Waterford in the 2013 Munster SHC, few had heard of him before that year’s All-Ireland final replay between Clare and Cork.
A late addition instead of Darach Honan, the Éire Óg Ennis man wrote himself into history as the Banner won a first All-Ireland in 16 years.
Eleven years on, he remains a key figure in the Clare attack and Cork will have to try to deal with him. One of the team’s selectors, Wayne Sherlock, was a top man-marker in his time – how would he deal with O’Donnell.
“I'd probably have to follow him to the toilet, to be honest!” he laughs.
"He's definitely a fella who needs to be minded. But no matter who you're playing against, there's always somebody who needs minding.
“Obviously fellas like O'Donnell need minding but we're going to play our game at the end of the day. If you go into a game worried about particular players, you'll probably take your eye off the ball a bit. We'll just do what we need to do.
“Yes, he'll need minding, as will the other five forwards, but the thing about these games is that you look forward to seeing how fellas react and how they deal with them.
“Personally, I wouldn't have minded the job of minding him because it's a compliment if you're given that kind of a job on a fella as good as him in an All-Ireland final.”
The flipside for Cork is that they have more than a few forwards who can trouble the opposition and the players in the Rebels’full-back line are more aware than most of the strengths they possess.
Niall O’Leary has been impressed by how 36-year-old Patrick Horgan is seemingly defying time.
“He's getting older but he's getting faster and fitter,” he says, “it's ridiculous.
“He's hitting top speeds at the moment and I don't know how he's doing it. I wish I'll be like that when I'm his age. I don't know – it's his movement, it's everything really.
“It gives you great confidence going into the weekend that you're going to be marking a fella who probably isn't as good as him. It's great to have him."
The Glen Rovers’ man’s leadership is transmitted in a quiet fashion.
“Ye know Patrick,” O’Leary says, “he has a really relaxed manner and that's a great thing to have in a dressing room.
“I suppose you can see that he's a confident guy and he doesn't get worked up about anything. He's very calm and everything on the day and I think a lot of lads have taken that from him as well.”
This is Horgan’s 17th year on the Cork panel – at the other end of the scale, it’s Brian Hayes’s second but he is adapting well. Having different threats is important, Cork captain Seán O’Donoghue feels.
“We’ve a balance of a lot,” he says, “fellas who are big, fellas who are small, fellas who are fast, fellas who are wristy.
“Like, Brian’s too big to mark; he’s just hard to get around. Any high ball, he uses his body so well, he uses his non-hurling hand very well.
“That’s something we haven’t really had in a while either, other than Sham [Séamus Harnedy]. We’ve always had small, fast forwards and wristy forwards; but he just brings something different.”
Against Limerick, Hayes showed no signs of being overawed, scoring 1-4.
“He’s taken it in his stride,” O’Donoghue says, “he’s earned his place on the team.
“Like, Pat put his faith in him and he’s repaying him. But, to be honest, every forward that we have in our panel, they all pose a different type of threat.
“You could be marking him one day, you could be marking Alan Connolly the next day, you could be marking Paudie Power, Robbie Cotter, they all do something completely different.
“You’re always going to have to adjust your game as a corner-back if you’re going to be marking these players.”
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