Cork expect to have four injured hurlers back in contention for Galway clash
Cork manager Pat Ryan talks to TG4. Picture: INPHO/James Lawlor
Cork manager Pat Ryan had spoken in recent weeks about the need to maximise goal opportunities and the Rebels certainly did that.
Three green flags in each half secured a first win at Cusack Park since 2009 and Ryan was pleased with the ruthlessness when the chances presented themselves.
“I thought the lads were sharp and they took them well and they were very clinical,” he said.
“I think we’ve left a good few chances behind us in the first couple of games. We worked very hard on that and we took those opportunities against what is a very mean Clare defence normally.
“It’s all systems go for six weeks’ time, when we come back up here.”
Overall, Ryan was happy with the result and much of the display, though he did feel that it dropped in the latter stages.
“It was a good performance from us, especially in the first 45 minutes,” he said, “the last 20 minutes was a bit disappointing, I thought we lost our shape.
“That’s something we’ll go after over the next two weeks. We did a lot of good things, did a lot of things we wanted to do right. That’s a bit of a step up on the performances we’ve given so far this year.
"That’ll give us more competition again and looking forward to Galway in two weeks.”
Certainly, the point-taking efficiency could have been better, with 14 wides registered across the game, seven in each half.
“Every time you play a match, you’re looking to see what you can go after the next day,” Ryan said.
“We definitely wasted a couple of balls. You don’t mind when you’re taking a shot on and it goes wide and it’s the right shot but I thought we took a couple of shots off the back foot and didn’t use the ball as well as we could in the second half especially.
“We had two or three pot-shots and that can happen when you’re up by a couple of scores. They’re areas that we’ll go after.”
One disappointing note was a late red card for Cormac O’Brien after another impressive performance from him. Ryan felt it could have been avoided.
“I didn’t see it,” he said, “and I didn’t see much of what David Fitzgerald did, either.
“These are the things that happen and Liam Gordon is a fantastic referee.
“I wouldn’t fault Liam in any of that side of it. From our point of view, at the end of a game, realistically the two boys themselves shouldn’t be getting involved in a pulling-and-dragging match two minutes into injury time when one team is up by 16 or 17 points.
“They’ll both regret that and myself and Brian [Lohan] will probably be giving out to both fellas about it! There was no need for it.”
Still, the positives far outweighed the negatives. A win over Galway could put Cork in the league final, but such an eventuality is not yet exercising Ryan’s thoughts.
“It’s not, really,” he said, “what’s on our mind really is winning the next game.
“We came up here today and if we lost the last two games, it was mathematically possible that we could be relegated.
“That was our thing, we’re on seven points so that’s not going to happen. We’ll be taking the Galway game seriously.
“We’ll have lots of fellas back and you can see we have plenty of competition in our squad. When fellas come back, they have to play well. That’s the opportunities they’re going to get.”
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