Cork v Dublin: Pat Ryan keen to draw on massive Rebel support again

From 1986-2006, Cork appeared in nine All-Ireland SHC semi-finals and won all but one – the 2000 loss to Offaly the outlier.

However, of the next seven occasions that the Rebels reached the last four – a period spanning 2008-18 – there was a sole victory: in 2013 against tomorrow’s opponents Dublin, incidentally.

The 2021 extra-time victory over Kilkenny did redress the imbalance somewhat and that was followed up last year’s great win against a Limerick side that was seeking an unprecedented fifth title on the trot.

For Dublin, the prize on offer at Croke Park tomorrow evening is an appearance in a first final since 1961, but Cork manager Pat Ryan isn’t placing too much store in history – ancient or recent.

“Obviously, the lads have good feelings from 2021 and we’ve good feelings from last year, but it’s a totally new game now,” he says.

“Dublin have a nice advantage in being at home, as such, and in their own beds the night beforehand.

“Ultimately, it’s about ourselves and what we want to get out of the year. Our job is to deliver and we’ll have massive support again.

“We’ve spoken about that all along – representing the jersey, representing our people that are coming along and spending money to come up and support us – we need to make sure that we honour that.

“That’s what the players have been doing and that’s what they’ve done for the three years I’ve been involved, really, bar that game against Limerick.

“From our point of view, we’re in a really good place but we need to be in a really good place because this is a very strong Dublin team.”

The game will be a sellout – Cork’s eighth consecutive full house in the hurling championship. Ryan acknowledges that Cork benefit from population size, but that support can provide a major boost on matchday.

“The way I look at it, we have huge support,” he says, “but I think, if you look at the percentage of GAA people in Cork compared to the percentage of GAA people in Tipperary, we're probably all getting the same percentages! And in Limerick and in Clare and in Kilkenny.

“We've a huge, huge club base and a huge tradition in Cork, so there's a lot of people who enjoy it and like it.

“I think the lads are representing the jersey and we’re trying to play a very nice, attractive brand of hurling as well, which is kind of traditional Cork hurling, and I think that has appealed.

“That was probably one of the things we wanted to do when we got involved, that we understood that the Cork fans can give you a huge boost.

“Our job was to make sure that we played a traditional brand of Cork hurling and that got the fans excited and made people want to go to match.

“It’s been a huge benefit to the team, especially on days when you’re struggling.”

All going well, Cork won’t struggle tomorrow but Limerick found that Dublin were a tough nut to crack.

“Their ability was never in question, as far as we were concerned,” Ryan says.

“They could have very easily beaten us last year, they missed some scoreable frees, so it’s not a case of not being aware of how good Dublin are.

“At the end of the day, you have to go out and perform and, in the All-Ireland quarter-final against Limerick, they performed.

“The one thing that they showed was a huge unity and belief in their own squad, which is a paramount thing. It would have been very easy to pack up after getting a man sent off but they didn’t, which shows a huge belief.

“At the end of the day, we know that the next 70 minutes is going to be really tough.”