Recalls for O'Leary and O'Sullivan as Cork hurling management firm up plans for 2026
Dáire O'Leary is set for a recall to the Cork senior hurling panel. Picture: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
Recalls for Dáire O’Leary and Brian O’Sullivan are among the notable additions as new Cork hurling manager Ben O’Connor begins to put in place his squad for the 2026 season.
Counties are permitted to return to collective training on November 21, with one non-field-based meeting permitted before then, but players can be placed on individual programmes. To that end, O’Connor and his new management team have been making some changes to the panel which reached this year’s All-Ireland final, with incomings and departures.
Prior to the commencement of the Allianz Hurling League at the end of January - for the first time since the 1998-99 season, Cork will be the defending champions - there will be a chance to assess players in the annual Canon O’Brien Cup game against UCC. In addition, it is likely that the Co-op SuperStores Munster Hurling League will be back on the calendar, but the exact format it will take has yet to be decided.
Cork are likely to operate from a large group for those pre-season games, with the squad than pared back for the start of the national league
Watergrasshill’s O’Leary was a double All-Ireland U20 medallist under Pat Ryan in 2020 and 2021 and made his senior debut in 2022 but injuries impinged on his ability to make an impact in the championship across the next three seasons.
In 2024, he was instrumental in his club winning the county Premier IHC and then going on to Munster and All-Ireland glory while he also helped Imokilly to win the county Premier Senior title, earning a spot on Reardens All-Star Hurling Team.
Having been stationed as a Garda in Kildare, he was not part of the Cork panel for 2025, though his performances for Garda College in the Fitzgibbon Cup earned him a place on the Electric Ireland GAA Higher Education Rising Stars Team of the Season.
A foot injury meant he didn’t feature during the Hill’s first Senior A campaign but it is hoped that he will be fit and ready for the start of 2026.
O’Sullivan started at midfield in the successful U20 campaign of 2021 while the Kanturk midfielder is a three-time Fitzgibbon Cup medallist with UL. He had briefly been part of Ryan’s senior squad but departed during the 2024 season.
Cian Darcy is set to be rewarded after a series of fine displays in helping Sarsfields to regain the Co-op SuperStores Premier SHC title while Colm McCarthy - cousin of Cathal, part of the Cork panel the past two seasons but currently out with a cruciate ligament injury - is also likely to be in the mix.
Other players set to be given opportunities are Dáire O’Leary’s Watergrasshill team-mate Seán Desmond, Killeagh attacker Barry Walsh - who is still U20 for 2026 - and Jack Leahy.
Another player on that panel, Brian Keating from Ballincollig, could make the step up to the senior ranks. Newmarket’s Hugh O’Connor, who featured for the U20 hurlers under Ben O’Connor in 2024, is expected to be in the mix too, having been on John Cleary's football squad.
In terms of outgoings from the squad, Patrick Horgan had already announced his retirement, while it is believed that Conor Lehane, Luke Meade, Robbie Cotter and Daniel Hogan are among those who will not be involved.
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