Mark Coleman backs Cork to learn from final agony

While Mark Coleman knows that Cork’s All-Ireland SHC final loss to Tipperary cannot be forgotten, he backs himself and his colleagues to channel the experience positively.

The events of July 20 at Croke Park will never be forgotten by anybody who witness them in person or on television and, naturally, the pain is felt most acutely by those directly involved.

Despite leading by six points at half-time, Cork were outscored by 3-14 to 0-2 in the second half as they lost by 15 points, sending the wait for the return of the Liam MacCarthy Cup into a 21st year.

And yet, it’s worth remembering that that defeat was not even the heaviest one suffered by the Rebels in the 2025 championship: beaten by Limerick by 16 points in May, they bounced back to win the Munster title by overcoming the same opposition in a penalty shootout three weeks later.

Such fortitude is why Coleman believes that, as disappointing as the All-Ireland was, it need not mark the terminal decline of a team that had otherwise been showing clear signs of incremental progress.

“Absolutely, yeah,” he said, “I mean, I think nobody sees it as that [fatal blow].

“It's very much that you have to look at the team as a whole and see that there's a young team there, and if you look at [20]23, ’24, ’25, it's been better every year.

“You have to look at it that way and that ’26 is going to be another step in the right direction, because I think ’25 was probably better than ’24 in terms of a bit more consistency and better performances and stuff like that.

“You have to look at it that way and look at ’26 again as another opportunity to build on that.”

Equally, what happened must be acknowledged and nobody is trying to suppress any feelings.

“We've all spoken about the final,” said Coleman, who was at the launch of the Co-op SuperStores Munster Hurling League in Limerick.

“Even the week after it, there was nobody shying away from it or anything like that.

“When you're with your friends, you can talk about anything, so of course we've spoken about it.

“Obviously, you're not going to just forget about it and put it to the back of your mind, because you need to take the learnings from it.”

To that end, the fact that the change from 2025 to 2026 has coincided with the installation of a new management team – Ben O’Connor succeeding Pat Ryan - could be said to help the healing process.

“Maybe, I suppose,” Coleman said.

“Obviously, it was disappointing to see Pat go, but maybe it brings that bit of freshness again with a lot of new faces around in the backroom team and stuff.

“They'll probably drive it on another bit, it's their first year and stuff like that.

“Maybe - like, it's probably not what we were thinking at the time when Pat left – but it definitely brings a bit of freshness into it.”

There has already been a change to the management team with the departure of coach Niall O’Halloran, though that has not resulted in upheaval for the players as the focus is on physical preparation rather than being on the hurling field.

The Munster league clashes with Clare and Limerick – and the Canon O’Brien Cup game on December 28 – will afford greater opportunity for the squad and management to gel properly.

“We haven't had much interaction so far this time of year, with no games and stuff like that,” Coleman said.

“It's very much strength-and-conditioning-based at the moment; I suppose time will tell, really.”