Cork hurling talking points: Retirements, new blood and Pat Ryan's tenure

Horgan and Harnedy's last stand?

Patrick Horgan is 21 points ahead of TJ Reid as the championship's all-time scorer with a haul of 32-684. He was well-policed against Tipp like the rest of the Cork inside line, but had another solid season overall, his 18th championship run.

He will turn 38 during the Munster campaign next May though.

Seamus Harnedy was 35 last week. He came off the bench against Tipp to clip a point and smashed a shot off the crossbar. He still has a knack for getting into space and is strong in the air; injuries meant he only started four of Cork's seven championship games. 

Horgan has four All-Stars and Harnedy three individual prizes, no Celtic Crosses. 

They were being picked on merit but a refresh is likely after losing back-to-back All-Irelands. 

Conor Lehane and Damien Cahalane, both 33 this year, were introduced on Sunday and have also soldiered since the early noughties with no All-Ireland joy.

Pat Ryan's future

The Sars club man was appointed on a three-year term, which is now officially over. Despite the pain of the Tipp hammering, it's been a very successful stint, including a first league since 1998 and a Munster title.

The Cork County Board will look to keep Ryan in charge... if he wants to. Mistakes were made in the All-Ireland final defeats but the players must also shoulder a huge portion of any blame, given their track record in finals.

Ryan's a hurling man to the core and a great ambassador for Cork. He's had a very difficult year off the field after the death of his beloved brother Ray. 

He'll be given time to make his decision.

New blood 

Cork won the U20 All-Ireland two years ago with Eoin Downey and Diarmuid Healy to the fore. Downey had an All-Ireland Sunday to forget, though he was a 2024 All-Star, while Healy sniped 0-3 in just his third start at senior.

They'll both be pillars of the team from here, perhaps with Downey in the half-back line instead of at number three, but a few new faces are obviously needed. 

William Buckley, Micheál Mullins and Darragh O'Sullivan were on the extended panel and need to get their chance in the league.

Ben Cunningham has been plagued by injury after being the marquee forward in that group. Jack Leahy is surely worth a place in the squad. 

Cork could also look at the crew now in their mid-20s who won U20 All-Irelands in 2020-'21. 

Cormac O'Brien made the breakthrough this summer having spent a few years on the periphery. Jack Cahalane, Padraig Power, when he's back from injury, and Daire O'Leary would fall into that category, along with Ethan Twomey, who fell out of favour after starting Cork's opening three games in Munster.

Mental frailty

Tipp were ideally placed coming into the All-Ireland. That's not being wise after the fact, we wrote in the build-up that their team was heavily restructured after the last meeting with Cork and had serious momentum after five wins on the bounce. 

They made it six with a second-half display for the ages. 

Tactially, Liam Cahill got it spot on with a sweeper and their work-rate and energy were higher than Cork's. That aspect was bewildering, given the pain Cork have endured in their last two All-Ireland final appearances.

Alright, Cork were shouldering the pressure of getting over the line but it crushed them. At this stage, for all the talk of Gary Keegan's role as sports psychologist, the hurlers have wilted as favourites a number of times.

On a side note, it was understandable that the group didn't want a homecoming on Monday night. It was grim enough after the Clare loss, it would have been beyond cruel on this occasion and of no benfit to anyone, fans included.