Cork Hurling: What we learned from Canon Brien Cup clash with UCC

The Canon O’Brien Cup has fast become an important date in the Cork sporting calendar. 

Not only does it get people off their couches and awaken them from their Christmas stupor, but it also signals the commencement of the new hurling year. In Cork, we have been awaiting that signal as eagerly as a visit from Santa Claus.

The result of this fixture is never too important. Fans are more interested in how players who are not necessarily mainstays in the current Cork team fare. 

And given that most of the UCC side is made up of hurlers from throughout the county, with a huge amount of them having represented Cork at one grade or another, it means that we get to scrutinise over more than thirty players in one sitting.

UCC ended up winning thanks to a superb point by William Buckley in the 62nd minute but a lot of water had flowed beneath the Shakey Bridge before we got to that.

Perhaps the biggest talking points from the encounter were the respective performances of the two number 10s, as Cian Darcy, for Cork, and Ben Cunningham, for UCC, were hugely influential.

Darcy only scored 1-1 in the end, but he was easily Cork’s best player, getting on the world of ball and driving at the College defence at every opportunity. The Sarsfields attacker took his goal at the start of the second half extremely well and he probably felt he was about to win the game for Ben O’Connor’s side when he raced down on goal from the right wing with the clock ticking well past the 59-minute mark. 

Ultimately, his batted effort was brilliantly saved by Fr O’Neill’s keeper Paudie O’Sullivan. Perhaps if he had his time all over again, he might have tapped it over to give Cork the lead at that late stage, but no one is going to criticise him for going for the jugular.

Cunningham was quieter in general play, although he did thunder into proceedings in the final quarter to help turn the game. His influence was mainly in his accuracy from placed balls. 

The Barrs marksman was unerring throughout, bagging 1-10 in total, one from play. His audacious goal from a close-in free in the second half flipped the momentum UCC’s way, and he rifled the ball over the bar from all angles from his many frees.

With the obvious Patrick Horgan-shaped hole in the Cork attack, there is a spot for a reliable free-taker to step up. 

Cunningham certainly did no harm for his chances with his display on Sunday. Of course, the likes of Declan Dalton, Darragh Fitzgibbon and Alan Connolly are all also expert free-takers, so there are plenty of options.

Another big winner on the day was Paudie O’Sullivan. He came on in the second half and saved from Darcy late on and also saved a stinging shot from Alan Walsh, while it was noteworthy that it was his precise pass to Buckley in the last minute that allowed the Barrs man control brilliantly on the run and fire over.

Buckley grabbed the headlines, but arguably his most eye-catching moment came in the 44th minute when he bravely jumped over Cormac O’Brien to cleanly catch a puck-out. Ball-winning is certainly down his list of strengths, so that would certainly have been noted by the watching Cork selectors.

OPTIONS

There were a number of players on show who could end up being candidates for the full-back role under O’Connor. Eoin Downey is the current occupant and anchored the defence for the College, while his teammate Shane Kingston, who was O’Connor’s U20 All-Ireland winning full-back in 2023, also performed well.

In white, the likes of Cormac O’Brien, Daire O’Leary, Eoin Roche and Ciarán Doolan all had their moments. It will be intriguing to see who O’Connor picks as his number three.

The midfield combo of Brian O’Sullivan and Micheál Mullins went well for Cork, with Kanturk’s O’Sullivan, in particular, being a ball magnet. He looks intent on taking his chance in 2026 after his previous spell on the Cork panel did not go the way he would have hoped.