Cork U20s seek to build on momentum with semi-final place on the line against Waterford
Cork's Daniel Murnane battles against Limerick pair Darragh Langan and Hugh Flanagan in last week's oneills.com Munster U20HC game at TUS Gaelic Grounds. Picture: Brendan Gleeson
The scenario is nice and clear for Cork ahead of tonight’s last oneills.com Munster U20HC round-robin clash.
Noel Furlong’s side welcome Waterford to SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh (7.30pm). Tipperary on six points have already secured a place in the provincial final – Cork are on three points, as are Limerick and Clare, who play each other, with the Déise on one. It means that a home victory at the Páirc would secure a semi-final spot.
Having bounced back from a disappointing home defeat to Tipp by beating Limerick last week, Furlong is keen to maintain the momentum.
“A win gives us a guaranteed semi-final, and coming up to Limerick, we would have taken your hand off for that,” he said.
“At the same time, we need to re-focus, these short turnarounds are very challenging. The short turnaround from Clare to Tipperary, we were a bit dead for the first half of that Tipperary game, so we need to look at that, freshen the guys up, come back in, and everything on the line again next Wednesday.
While the Cork team for the two-point win at TUS Gaelic Grounds had just one change in personnel compared to the Tipp match, a number of players operated in different positions.
Such versatility underscores the adaptability of the players on the team but also how the management have been able to alter their approach.
“Some of them are down to match-ups and different things as well,” Furlong said, “but we're a new management with a new group, you have them for eight or ten weeks before they play championship, so we're learning about fellas all the time.
“There’s no better place to be learning about them, when you get into the championship games, because whatever about training and challenge matches, they can't replicate championship.
“So we're learning every week, and we fully believe – I’ve said it since day one – the further we go in this competition, the better we're going to get, just from having that cohesion, just from having the patterns of play embedded in.
“You could see it against Limerick at stages, we were playing some of our best hurling of the year, some passages of play which were just top class.
“We just need to re-focus, digest that game, have a look at where we can improve further, look to build on that next week. The Limerick game is worth nothing unless we win next week.
A championship feel brought out the best in the team against Limerick and now Furlong is hoping for more of the same.
“You’ve a bad start against Tipp and you're down 1-4 to no score after five minutes, and I think we win the rest of the game by a point, if you take out the first five minutes.
“We knew we had areas to improve on after that Tipp game and, in saying that, Tipp are a serious team as well, to be fair.
“We knew our season was on the line against Limerick – if we lost, we were as good as gone out of the competition, and nothing better than having your back to the wall and knowing that it's win or bust.
“We're hoping we'll get a massive momentum boost from that and be able to bring that, carry it through the week.”
There's one change to the starting 15 for Wednesday's game, Erin's Own forward Finn O'Brien coming in for St Finbarr's John Wigginton Barrett.
Daniel O’Connell (Dromina);
Denis Cashman (Bride Rovers), James O’Brien (Fermoy), Timmy Wilk (Cobh);
Ben Walsh (Killeagh), David O’Leary (Ballincollig), Daniel Murnane (Carrigtwohill);
Eoin Guinane (Valley Rovers), Ryan Deasy (Ballymartle);
Finn O’Brien (Erin’s Own), John Murphy (Mallow), Peter O’Shea (Erin’s Own);
Barry O’Flynn (Erin’s Own), Ross O’Sullivan (Na Piarsaigh), Barry Walsh (Killeagh).
Oisín Walsh (Youghal), Cian Dunphy (Erin’s Own), Cillian O’Callaghan (Dungourney), Oisín Fitzgerald (St Catherine’s), Adam O’Sullivan (Ballinhassig), Johnnie Murphy (Dromina), Dylan McCarthy (Killeagh), Mark O’Brien (Douglas), John Wigginton Barrett (St Finbarr’s).
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