Cork manager Pat Ryan pays tribute to the late John Mullins

Cork hurling manager Pat Ryan has paid tribute to the late John Mullins, who died on Monday.

The businessman and politician was heavily involved in GAA at both club and county level, serving on the SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh board of directors and the One Cork fundraising committee.

“John Mullins was a great supporter of Cork GAA and especially the Cork senior hurlers,” Ryan said.

“John gave us great support in running our golf classic at the end of 2024 – it was a pleasure to get to know him and his passion for hurling and the players was unbelievable.

“On behalf of all involved with Cork senior hurlers, we’d like to pass on our deepest condolences to all of John’s family and his wide circle of friends.”

Ryan’s Cork side are gearing up for Sunday’s Munster SHC opener against Clare at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg (2pm) and there are no new injury worries to report.

“Micheál Mullins, Conor Lehane and Darragh O’Sullivan won’t be in consideration for the weekend,” Ryan said.

“They should be back for the start of July. Otherwise, it’s the same group as for the league final, once everybody comes through training this week.”

Cork come into the game on the back of winning the Allianz Hurling League title for the first time since 1998.

Despite the 3-24 to 0-23 win over Tipperary in the final, Ryan was left unhappy with his side’s second-half performance, in which they scored just eight points, but he knows that that was not a true reflection of the team.

The coming championship ensures that they will be ready for what lies ahead.

“It's going to be re-focused anyway,” he said, “we all know that championship is where it’s at.

“The best thing about the league final is that we won and there are good vibes and you put something that was kind of hanging over us – not winning a national league for 27 years – out of the way. You don't need to be talking about that going forward.

“It was great preparation for what we wanted to do. That type of match was as good as two or three training sessions for us.

“We were cognisant or what way we wanted to play and how we wanted to play and it was great preparation for Clare. We’ve been back on the field and we had a good session at the weekend, gym Monday night and then out on the field again Tuesday and Thursday so it’s all ready to go for Clare.

“Obviously, there's no point telling people what Clare will be like – they have a great home record above in Ennis and we don’t have a great record against them in the last couple of years in the championship.

“It’s something that we’re mad to rectify.”

Cork have already beaten Clare this year, scoring six goals in the league match in Ennis in March, but Ryan isn’t putting too much store in that ahead of Sunday.

“I suppose we probably needed to win that match more than Clare,” he said.

“We were trying to get to a league final and they had a few fellas who were just back from injuries so we were probably in a better state than they were on the day.

“Obviously, when you’ve been beaten by a team a good few times, you want to stop that but, from our point of view, championship is where it counts.

“They’ve beaten us the last three times since I’ve been involved, though there’s only been a puck of a ball between the teams each time.

“The way we look at it is that it’s a four-game competition and you need six points to get out of Munster. If we can get two points against Clare in Ennis, that starts out journey along the way very well.”