Crunching the numbers: Cork's Niall O'Leary the last man standing after successful campaign
Cork's Niall O'Leary - the only player to play ever minute of the successful Allianz HL Division 1A campaign - halts the progress of Tipperary's Jake Morris during Sunday's game at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Once it’s not anything serious – and there was no indication afterwards that it was – then Darragh Fitzgibon’s late withdrawal in Sunday’s Allianz Hurling League final win over Tipperary was a mere footnote to Cork’s win.
With 2-31 scored – 2-13 of that from open play – the Charleville man edged Patrick Horgan’s 1-32 to be Cork’s top scorer across a successful seven-game campaign, one in which he had played every minute until having to go off to be replaced by Luke Meade (officially a temporary substitution, albeit one that continued until the game’s end).
Fitzgibbon’s departure meant that corner-back Niall O’Leary was the only man left standing with the perfect record of 490 minutes from the seven games, a fitting testament to the series of consistent performances put in by him, with Cork having kept clean sheets in their last three matches.
Following the leading pair were Tim O’Mahony and Shane Barrett on 469 and 462 minutes respectively while Brian Hayes and Patrick Collins also logged more than 400.
In total, 35 players saw game-time during the campaign, with 15 of them having more than 200 minutes (Meade was just short on 199). It’s unlikely that those 15 will be the starting lineup in Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg on Sunday week, with Diarmuid Healy or Séamus Harnedy likely to take the number 12 shirt while Alan Connolly was also down the order after missing three games with injury.
Aside from the Healy/Harnedy choice, the other major selection decision is likely to be at left half-back but, with 375 minutes logged, Cormac O’Brien certainly showed how the league can be used as a means of taking opportunities and holding a jersey thanks to consistent performances.
A total of 21 different players scored for Cork during the league, with 16 of them doing so more than once and ten different goalscorers. Of the 18 green flags, Brian Hayes’s hat-trick of goals away to Clare helped him to top those charts with five, followed by Declan Dalton with three while Fitzgibbon and Shane Barrett had two each.
490 – Niall O’Leary; 477 – Darragh Fitzgibbon; 469 – Tim O’Mahony; 462 – Shane Barrett; 439 – Brian Hayes; 424 – Patrick Collins; 375 – Cormac O’Brien; 352 – Patrick Horgan; 351 – Ethan Twomey; 335 – Ciarán Joyce; 327 – Robert Downey; 257 – Eoin Downey; 243 – Seán O’Donoghue; 239 – Declan Dalton; 236 – Ger Millerick; 199 – Luke Meade; 182 – Brian Roche; 174 – Damien Cahalane; 166 – Micheál Mullins; 149 – Alan Connolly; 146 – Diarmuid Healy; 135 – Shane Kingston; 93 – Robbie O’Flynn; 92 – Jack O’Connor; 87 – Pádraig Power; 81 – Mark Coleman; 70 – Eoin Roche; 66 – Brion Saunderson; 58 – Tommy O’Connell; 54 – Robbie Cotter; 33 – Jack Cahalane; 6 – Daniel Hogan; 5 – Conor Lehane.
Darragh Fitzgibbon 2-31 (0-17 f, 0-1 65), Patrick Horgan 1-32 (0-22 f, 0-1 65), Brian Hayes 5-8, Declan Dalton 3-13, (0-5 f, 1-0 penalty, 0-1 sl), Shane Barrett 2-13, Diarmuid Healy 1-8, Ethan Twomey 1-7, Tim O’Mahony 1-6 (0-1 f), Pádraig Power 1-4, Alan Connolly 1-3, Brian Roche 0-3, Cormac O’Brien, Ciarán Joyce, Robbie O’Flynn, Séamus Harnedy, Tommy O’Connell 0-2 each, Seán O’Donoghue, Luke Meade, Micheál Mullins, Shane Kingston, Jack O’Connor 0-1 each.
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