Pat Ryan on Cork's injuries, Limerick's exit and facing Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final

Cork manager Pat Ryan expects to have close to a full squad to choose from for what he terms “a huge challenge” in the the All-Ireland SHC semi-final against Dublin.

The quarter-final results at the weekend confirmed that it will the Dubs that Cork face at Croke Park on Saturday week, July 5, with the game having a 5pm throw-in time. Leinster champions Kilkenny face Tipperary the following day (4pm).

By the time the game comes around, Cork will have been out of action for four weeks, though that has allowed injuries to Declan Dalton, Robert Downey (both hamstring), Niall O’Leary (groin) and Ger Millerick (broken finger) to heal.

“Yeah, yeah they're all back now,” Ryan says, “the only fella not fully back is Ger Mellerick.

“He didn’t train at the weekend but we’re hoping he'll train this week.

“The four-week gap gives you the opportunity to recover a small bit and get some sort of injuries right,

“We've had an intense period, when you throw the league into it and the Munster Championship.

“In fairness, realistically what would be perfect would be three weeks, where you'd have a week off to recover and then two weeks to prepare, but we feel that we're in a good spot now.

FOCUS

“Obviously, the fact that we know we're playing Dublin is a huge thing. You know you have a team to focus on, whereas all along it could have been any of three teams, so it was hard to prepare from that point of view.

“There’ll be a pep in fellas’ steps now they know who they’re playing against.”

Dublin’s impressive 2-24 to 0-28 quarter-final win over Limerick means that Cork are forewarned about what awaits, but, having beaten them at that stage last year, Ryan needed no reminding how formidable Niall Ó Ceallacháin’s side are.

“Realistically, Dublin could have beaten us that time last year,” he says, “they missed a couple of frees.

“Nobody knows better than me how good Dublin hurling after I saw what Na Fianna did to Sars this year. Dublin have a couple of Na Fianna players but they don’t have eight or nine of the team, which just goes to show the strength that is in Dublin hurling.

Getting into Croke Park on Saturday, they took off. They're a fantastically athletic and physical team.

“You’ll get a bit of a narrative around the fact that Cork might be the favourites, the same as Limerick were on Saturday, but it’s very simple – the team that has put in the best performance of the championship so far has been Dublin.

“What you look at is what the last performance was like and if Dublin can produce that performance again in the All-Ireland semi-final, they’ll be extremely hard to beat.”

Of the four remaining sides, Tipp’s 2019 win is the most recent.

Whoever prevails will be bridging a gap and that lends a feeling of openness to proceedings.

“At the end of the day, Tipperary are six years without winning an All-Ireland, we're 20 years, Dublin are 87, Kilkenny are ten years,” Ryan says.

“It’s wide open, but it was never not wide open. Obviously, Limerick had all their success but Clare were the All-Ireland champions. When they were gone, you were going to have new champions for 2025.

A lot of people might have thought that that might be Limerick but they’re out now and everybody else will believe they can win it.

"Our fans have been brilliant all along and, above in Dublin in two weeks’ time, we’re going to need them again and I know they won’t be found wanting.

MISTAKEN

“Normally, what happens in any championship is that the team that beats the favourites – which was Limerick – would then go in as favourites.

“Anyone waking up after Saturday thinking that things will be easy is very mistaken; I’ve never seen an easy All-Ireland won by any team.

“Every team is going to be going flat-out for it and there’ll be huge excitement and a new name on the trophy compared to the last few years. Someone will be creating a bit of history for themselves.

“We’re really looking forward to it. It’s great that we know who we’re playing but we know the challenge that’s going to be facing us.

“We played them last year in the championship and we’ve seen what they’re able to do. Normally, when your club hurling is flying, it means your inter-county team is flying.”