Cork's young hurlers must do more to grab their chance in the league
Jake Morris of Tipperary has his jersey pulled by Micheál Mullins of Cork at FBD Semple Stadium. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
After the 15-point drubbing of Wexford on the opening day of the league campaign there was serious chatter about this being a great opportunity for the Cork hurlers to win their first league title since 1998.
Just two rounds later it already seems like an extremely unlikely prospect.
Cork’s laissez-faire approach to the league means they were always likely to struggle once they bumped into a team like Tipperary, who take the competition far more seriously. Tipp’s record in the round-robin sections of the league in the last two years has been almost the complete opposite of their championship form, with them winning 12 out of 14 games, with their only two losses coming against Limerick.
John Kiely’s men do not seem to be able to resist the temptation to keep the foot on the throat, which has to be admired.
When the Cork team was selected for Saturday’s fixture you could see the writing on the wall somewhat. A repeat of the 18-point Thurles hammering in last year’s championship was never on the cards.
Cork’s biggest Achilles heel always seems to be the lack of forwards who can win dirty ball and in the absence of Seamus Harnedy and Declan Dalton, in particular, you felt that Cork were going to struggle in this department against Tipp. And this is what transpired.
The experiment of deploying Ethan Twomey at wing-forward continued, and it does not appear to be working. It seems unfair on the St Finbarr’s youngster to put him there when he has performed so well at midfield.
The injuries a few weeks ago, in the space of a matter of days, to Padraig Power, Conor Lehane and Ben Cunningham are being really felt now, as you feel that their unavailability is robbing Pat Ryan of the chance to really build the kind of panel depth needed for later in the year. Perhaps it is time to rethink some of the recent picks on the basis of the effect that these injuries have had.
In any game lost, there are obviously going to be negatives, with some players possibly playing themselves out of contention for starting berths in the championship, but there were positives too.
Niall O’Leary has continued his form from last year and seems to be only improving with age as a defender, while Ger Millerick had multiple big moments, including at least three brilliant block downs, despite having his hands full with the extremely exciting talent that is 19-year-old Darragh McCarthy.
Unfortunately for the Fr O’Neill’s man, McCarthy scored with virtually every possession he gobbled up, so it is easy to forget the amount of times that he himself came out on top in the dual.
Micheál Mullins looked the part at wing-back and he will come on from that, as will Diarmuid Healy, who had some nice moments upon his introduction in the second half. They need to be seen again the next day against Kilkenny.
Cormac O’Brien continues to have a solid campaign in the 7 shirt.
Realistically Cork need to win all of their remaining three games if they are to have a chance of qualifying for the league decider in early April, although you have to wonder whether that is even a goal for this side.
Given the home advantage, you would expect them to target wins over Kilkenny and Galway at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, but the visit to Cusack Park to face Clare is sandwiched in between those ties. And Cork’s record in Ennis would not fill you with confidence.
Also, Cork’s championship opener will be at the same venue just six weeks later so you can easily imagine a scenario where cards are being held firmly to the chest for that one.
We would end up learning a lot more about some of the newer members of the panel if they were surrounded by more established players, as realistically we can expect only a couple of changes in Cork’s championship line-up from the side that started last year’s All-Ireland final against Clare.
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