Cork hurlers head into league season full of optimism
Cork's William Buckley made his senior debut against Waterford recently. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
A new Allianz National Hurling League campaign promises plenty of excitement and talking points as Cork build a foundation for 2025’s Munster and All-Ireland senior hurling championships.
Here we go again.
It is time to buckle up for another intriguing year with the Cork senior hurlers.
The 2024 All-Ireland SHC runners-up’s first competitive action of the year sees Pat Ryan’s side travelling to Chadwicks Wexford Park for an Allianz National Hurling League opener against Wexford next Saturday evening.
Following that, Cork’s opening home fixture has the potential to be an explosive occasion as John Kiely’s Limerick visit SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Denied five-in-a-row All-Ireland senior titles by the Rebels in 2024, Limerick will be desperate to atone for those Munster and All-Ireland hurling championship defeats.
The same is true of a Tipperary team that was hammered by the Rebels in last year’s provincial championship when the two teams meet in round three at FBD Semple Stadium.
Any Cork and Kilkenny encounter throws the form book out of the window and the old rivals’ fourth round meeting will be no different at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
Things don’t get any easier in Cork’s final two National League Division 1A outings. A trip to Ennis precedes a concluding group fixture at home to Galway.
Motivation will not be an issue for Pat Ryan’s side and that league clash will act a precursor to next April’s Cork and Clare’s Munster SHC meeting at the same venue.
Galway are under new management with Micheál Donoghue returning to the fold and replacing Henry Shefflin. Donoghue guided the Tribesmen to All-Ireland glory during his previous stint in 2017 and will bring an improved Galway to Leeside.
Ahead of the new league campaign, Cork have been shaping up nicely over the winter months and New Year.
As pre-season competitions are no longer sanctioned by the GAA, a series of challenge matches has allowed Pat Ryan run the rule over newcomers to his senior panel. The Rebels saw off Waterford 1-15 to 0-10 amid awful conditions in a fundraiser in aid of the Friends of Brian Greene and Waterford Hospice before walloping six goals past UCC to claim the Canon O’Brien Cup.
Darragh O’Sullivan (Ballinhassig), William Buckley and Jack Cahalane (St Finbarr’s), Alan Walsh (Kanturk), Diarmuid Healy (Lisgoold) and Darragh Flynn (Ballygiblin) have been training with the Cork seniors and appeared at various stages in Cork’s pre-season games.
Other like Ben Cunningham (St Finbarr’s and UCC), Robbie Cotter (Blackrock) and Pádraig Power (Blarney) did their future selection prospects no harm at all with eye-catching displays in the recent Canon O’Brien Cup clash.
Sarsfields’ Daniel Hogan, Cathal McCarthy and Jack O’Connor remained with their club up to and including last weekend’s All-Ireland senior club final at Croke Park.
The addition of that trio to the Cork panel offers Ryan plenty of additional options and it will be interesting to see how they fare over the coming weeks.
Plenty to ponder then for Cork’s manager and his backroom team who will be hoping to improve upon last year’s third-place Division 1A finish that saw Cork positioned behind eventual league champions Clare and Kilkenny.
The pressure was on as Cork needed to win all three remaining league fixtures to have a chance of progressing to the knockout stages.
An untidy but welcome 1-21 to 1-19 victory at home to Waterford owed much to Patrick Horgan’s seven-point haul and 1-3 from Jack O’Connor.
Momentum gained from that Waterford win saw the Rebels hammer Offaly thanks to five unanswered goals before seeing off this year’s first-round opponents, Wexford, courtesy of an Alan Connolly hat-trick.
Alas, on the same afternoon, Kilkenny’s narrow three-point defeat of Waterford denied Cork a league semi-final berth.
It all starts in Wexford next Saturday evening where Pat Ryan will be targeting a victory to kickstart the Rebels’ new campaign in the best fashion.
Wexford v Cork, Chadwicks Wexford Park, Saturday, 5pm;
Cork v Limerick, SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Saturday, February 1, 7.30pm;
Tipperary v Cork, FBD Semple Stadium, Saturday, February 22, 7.30pm;
Cork v Kilkenny, SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Saturday, March 1, 5pm;
Clare v Cork, Cusack Park, Ennis, Sunday, March 9 at 3.15pm;
Cork v Galway, SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Saturday, March 22, 7:30pm.
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