Cork hurling league panel: Who are the biggest surprises?

The Cork hurling panel for the remainder of the league campaign was announced last Tuesday and the reaction to Ryan’s 37-man selection has been an interesting one.

The two biggest shocks for Cork fans seem to Ben Cunningham and Jack Leahy, both of whom missed out.

In the case of Cunningham, it’s clear his absence is due to the injury he picked up playing for UCC against MTU.

For Leahy, it isn’t much of a surprise given he didn’t get a run out against Waterford or Wexford. The surprise for Cork fans is the fact he didn’t feature in either of those two games.

PREDICTIONS 

A little over a month ago, I took a shot at predicting the league panel. As it turns out I wasn’t too far off.

There are exactly seven differences between the panel I selected and what was released on Tuesday.

Those seven men involved that I hadn’t predicted are Daniel Hogan, Damien Cahalane, Darragh Flynn, Darragh O’Sullivan, Diarmuid Healy, Jack Cahalane and Robbie Cotter.

Hogan, Flynn, O’Sullivan, Healy and Jack Cahalane are all changes from last year’s panel.

Flynn and Healy are the most obvious inclusions in my opinion.

After the impressive performances that Flynn put in with Ballygiblin and Healy with Lisgoold and Imokilly, it makes sense to see them involved in the league, with a view to aid their development in the coming years.

Both have serious potential and could be key to Cork in the future.

Jack Cahalane’s involvement makes sense given his decision to walk away from the football setup with the intention of joining the hurlers. That’s still one I got wrong.

Darragh O’Sullivan is the most surprising of these picks for me. That’s not to discredit him either, he’s an excellent hurler and has shown that U20 level. By no means is he the wrong choice.

My surprise is more so given at some of the names that have been left out. I suppose that just goes to show the level of talent within Cork at the moment.

There is a noticeable difference in the quality of extended panel members to even just four or five years ago.

It’s a squad that continues to get stronger. 

Sarsfields’ Hogan taking a place isn’t much of a surprise either – it was always likely Jack O’Connor and Cathal McCarthy would be joined by someone else from their club given the season they’re after having.

That leaves Damien Cahalane and Robbie Cotter. I expected Cahalane to opt out, but he didn’t. In the case of Robbie, I thought his place would be taken by one of Jack Leahy or William Buckley.

Those two haven’t made the cut, but if they continue to perform as they have done – there is no reason they won’t get a shot next year.

I also expected Conor O’Callaghan, Seán Twomey and Daire O’Leary to keep their places. O’Leary’s omission is the biggest surprise of the three – which Pat Ryan put down to being stationed as a garda in Kildare.

Eoin Davis was my choice if Ryan selected a third goalkeeper. I did think Brian O’Sullivan would get a chance this year, given how impressive he was at U20 and after the year he had with Kanturk. He’ll have to wait for his chance too.