Cork v Dublin: Shane Kingston ready if called upon

Cork hurling manager Pat Ryan has always been keen to impress how places in the team and squad are up for grabs for those players showing it in training.

Having featured as a late sub in Cork’s opening Munster SHC draw with Clare, Shane Kingston did not appear in the home win over Tipperary or the defeat away to Limerick.

A lively cameo against Waterford made him a viable option for the provincial final against the Treatymen though and he contributed three points in extra time as well as scoring a penalty in the shootout.

While he may be on the bench again for Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin at Croke Park (5pm), he will be keen to make an impact if called upon.

“Obviously, the Tipp game was the first championship game that I'd togged for and hadn't come on since my debut, so, that was obviously disappointing," says Kingston, speaking as eir announced a major milestone in its network transformation - delivering 5G to 98% of Ireland’s population.

“I just kind of put the head down and just stayed positive and kind of drove on. I got 25 minutes, which was great, but if the game didn't go to extra time, I wouldn't have got that – I don't think I'd touched the ball in normal time!

“Obviously, it's challenging when you're coming on that late; you're nearly trying to over-exert and try and do something magic in that short period of time.

“From the subs' perspective, you know, it went to extra time, and it gave us an opportunity to express ourselves a bit more. [Conor] Lehane, Robbie [O’Flynn] and Tommy [O’Connell], and guys that came on did very well.

“It's always challenging when you are coming on for a short period of time – you're under pressure to make something happen.

“I've been in this position before, but it's just about remaining positive and knowing that you will have a part to play.

“No one individual is any bigger than the group, so just keeping that positive approach and, when you do get that opportunity, to try and maximise it and leave a good impression and the management to put yourself in a better position again for the next day if you are there.”

Cork's Munster final penalty shootout win over Limerick was a third medal for Kingston. The first two came just after he established himself as a starter and so, after going seven years without one, it was nice to bridge that gap

“My debut in 2016, that was straight after the Leaving Cert, so that was a very short year," he says, "but 2017 and 2018, winning two Munsters, you think, ‘Jeez, it's brilliant, like, it's going to be like this every year,’ and you kind of realise quick enough that it doesn't pan out that way.

“Your career starts going on and you start getting that bit older as well and that’s why winning it again made it that bit more sweet, because it had been so long.

“It's great for the group then, that we'd won the league as well, so it's two out of two, kind of building that bit of momentum, which is even better.”

The Munster win followed the league win, of course, but Kingston and the squad are not resting on their laurels.

“Definitely not,” he says, “and, you know, none of the players in the group would let that happen either, we're fairly grounded, to be fair.

“By the time we got out of Limerick, it was nearly Sunday. We had that Sunday together, then back in the gym Monday, video analysis and know, getting focused on the gym and focused on the training for that week. We took it from there and drove on again.

“We were in on the Monday night and had a gruelling-enough gym session, sweated everything out of us fairly quick! We were back on the pitch then on the Wednesday or Thursday night.

“We needed to get in and group together. At the end of the day, winning a Munster is brilliant, but it's not the medal or the cup that everyone wants.”

The time since the Limerick win can be split in two - the fortnight where the didn't know who they were playing the time since Dublin's win over Limerick confirmed they would Cork's opponents, providing clarity.

“You're focusing on yourselves, primarily,” Kingston says, but there's obviously that bit of analysis on the opposition as well – their puckouts, the way they play, what they like to do. That has to be done then as well.

“In fairness to the backroom team, they had everything done the following day for us at training, so it was obviously no surprise to them. They'd dissected all the other teams as well, just on the off-chance, because nobody knew which way the games were going to go."

Kingston wasn't necessarily surprised that Dublin won, but the circumstances of their victory were certainly against the odds.

“I suppose the biggest surprise is, down to 14 men and still getting over the line," he says.

“In terms of the performance from Dublin, it wasn’t too surprising at all, because I remember last year in Thurles, where we were all scrambling around the 21, trying to prevent a goal, because I think we were only maybe three or four points going down the home stretch against Dublin.

“We knew that performance was in them and it wasn't surprising at all. As I was saying there, it's just down to 14 men is obviously a bit more challenging, but it just shows that, when your attitude and workrate are right, you can go a long way and get reward for it.”

Cork have a good record in semi-finals in recent years, albeit beating Kilkenny in 2021 and Limerick last year after coming through the back door. This time, being Munster champions means a wait but nobody is using that as a crutch.

“I suppose, any time you're playing in Croke Park, it's a quarter-final or a semi-final – or a final if you're lucky enough to get there," Kingston says, "it's knockout championship, so, you know, complacency can't be a thing that creeps in, otherwise you'll be going home on the bus with your tail between your legs.

“We haven't let that creep in so far, so it's kind of coming down to the lads and driving each other on and training hard then as well.

“Look, any game we go into, we're going to be confident anyway, regardless of what happened the year before or if we lost to an opposition the year before or something.

“The last time we were in Cork Park in the semi-final, we beat Limerick, which was brilliant.

“You wouldn't be going into a game thinking you're going to lose, I don't think anyone goes out to a game with that mentality.”

• eir has reached a major milestone in its network transformation, now delivering 5G to 98% of Ireland’s population. As the first operator to launch 5G at Croke Park in 2020, eir continues to enhance the matchday experience for fans and players alike. Known as the fastest field sport in the world, hurling is a fitting match for eir’s ultra-fast fibre and 5G networks – now bringing faster speeds, stronger connections, and better coverage to communities across Ireland.