Ben O'Connor says Cork newcomers must learn from tough experience in Limerick

Cork hurling manager Ben O’Connor certainly didn’t try to sugarcoat things after a 15-point loss to Limerick in Wednesday’s Co-op SuperStores Munster Hurling League opener.

The publication of the respective sides on Tuesday made Limerick strong favourites, with heavy-hitters such as Seán Finn, Will O’Donoghue, Cian Lynch, Darragh O’Donovan, Peter Casey and Gearóid Hegarty giving them a strong spine against a Cork side short on experience.

The 1-28 to 0-16 result in favour of the hosts was a sign of the size of the step up required and O’Connor made no bones about what was required from those going out representing Cork.

“Ah yeah, I suppose they had more regular fellas playing,” he said, “but then we probably expected a bit more out of our fellas. 

I suppose this was a learning curve for us.

“Maybe we were expecting too much out of fellas, landing them into that kind of competition straight away without being tested before that, on a different level to what the Canon O’Brien Cup was as well.

"We came down and we were hoping we'd have a better performance, unfortunately for some fellas, it didn't happen.

“Look, fellas made a fierce effort to get down here tonight, some of them were leaving Cork at half two and we had fellas that were asked to come in that aren’t on the panel, so that we had numbers for this game.

“Look, we're thankful for all that but, at the end of the day, that performance wasn't good enough.”

MISSED OPPORTUNITY

Cork might have had an early goal but Jack O’Connor’s shot following a driving run was saved by Limerick goalkeeper Colin Ryan. A green flag at that stage would have put Cork 1-1 to 0-3 in front and possibly allowed them to settle into the game but instead Limerick built a lead in the manner in which they are so adept.

By half-time, it was 0-16 to 0-7 and there was never a sense that their supremacy would be shaken.

“For the first 10 minutes, we were happy enough, but then after that we fell apart,” O’Connor said.

“I suppose at half-time we were just hoping to show some bit of a fightback when we had the breeze at our backs but it didn't happen, either.

“It’s a harsh learning curve for fellas, to see the level they have to get to now, it’s a big step up.”

BOUNCE BACK

Such a step up cannot be simulated; it must be experienced, sometimes in painful fashion. Facing up to the likes of Limerick’s marquee stars is something that must be absorbed and then channelled positively.

“Exactly, and then you're firing in all them fellas together,” O’Connor said.

“If you're firing in two or three fellas, maybe they'll be helped with fellas around, but when you're throwing them all in together, and the first time playing together as well, but we’re not making excuses, the best team beat us tonight and it just shows we have a lot of work to do.

“I just said to the boys inside there that it's not nice. It's happened to us all. There's no point saying it didn't.

We all got a bit of a tarring like that at some stage. We just have to learn from it and come back stronger.”

Reaching the final of the competition is now a tall order – Cork would need to beat Clare by 29 points at Mallow on Monday night to create a three-way tie on two points and then progress on scoring difference.

They are likely to at least have a strong team available – as Monday does not count as ‘midweek’, some of the UCC contingent could feature as they are not in Fitzgibbon action – though O’Connor will wait to assess his options.

“We'll see after the weekend,” he said.

“We had fellas with knocks there tonight, we have the Fitzgibbon on tomorrow and we have a bout of sickness in the camp as well. We have a few fellas out injured so we'll just have to see what's around.

“The same as ever, we'll be going out to win and we'll pick a team that we think can go on and win it."