Cork U20 team for Limerick clash features one change from last outing
David O'Leary in action for Cork in the 2023 Electric Ireland All-Ireland MHC semi-final against Galway. Picture: Stephen Marken/Sportsfile
From the side defeated by Tipperary three weeks ago, 14 starters remain with O'Leary at centre-back in a straight swap with Cillian O'Callaghan. Adam O'Sullivan, a survivor from last year, is named as a sub.
Cork manager Noel Furlong believes that the break since the defeat to Tipp will stand to the team as they resume their campaign.
The third set of fixtures is the Rebels’ ‘bye round’ but the fact that the two fixtures – Waterford’s draw with Limerick and Tipperary’s win over Clare – were split over two weeks meant for the longer break between fixtures.
“That's exactly it,” he says.
“Usually, two weeks is the ideal break but three weeks just allowed us to get a great block of work done. It was brilliant.
“Three weeks uninterrupted, where we had access to everyone all the time and we got a huge block of really good work done.
“Training was outstanding and we got a couple of practice games played, which went very well.
“The Tipperary game seems like ages ago and we’re fully focus now on getting a performance against Limerick, based on the last block of work we've done. Hopefully, that will happen.”
While Tipp top the table with four points, they have played three games whereas Limerick have two matched played, yielding a win and a draw. Clare also have three points, but from three matches, while Cork and Waterford have one point each after two matches.
It brings a quasi-knockout quality to what remains, with everything finely poised.
“It is,” Furlong says, “and the format is incredible.
“It's the same round-robin format as the senior championship, which has been great, and Limerick, who we're playing next, they're the only unbeaten team left in competition.
“You had Clare and Tipperary being hotly who would be hotly tipped beforehand by most people out there, they've both been beaten already.
“It just shows the competitive nature and, even more so, that anyone can still qualify from the group at the moment, with some teams having one game left and other teams with two games left.
“It's brilliant and it's the way it should be, with regular competitive games. There’s no better way of developing these fellas now than putting them into Gaelic Grounds on Wednesday, a high-pressure game up against Limerick and seeing then who can stand up to that challenge. “That's where you find out most about lads.”
Like the minor championship meeting between the counties, tonight’s match had originally been scheduled for Mick Neville Park in Rathkeale before being shifted to the Ennis road venue.
The move is certainly not something that Furlong is complaining about.
“We've been up in the Gaelic Grounds a number of times over the last few years and there’s no better venue,” he says.
“The surface up there is incredible and a team like ourselves, who would pride ourselves on our level of skill and ability, we were delighted to hear that the game was going ahead there.
“Would Limerick have trained inside the Gaelic Grounds much? I have no idea, but I know that our lads love playing there and a bunch of them have already mentioned it.
“I'm not sure if it's any advantage or disadvantage, but certainly you look to make the most of it, anyway. Our lads love going to the Gaelic Gounds, it's one of the best pitches in the country, to be fair.”
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