Seán O'Donoghue on All-Ireland final loss: 'We had a blip and didn't kill the momentum'

Cork defender Seán O’Donoghue has said a combination of things led to the Rebels not playing to their potential in last season’s All-Ireland final loss to Tipperary.

It was Cork's second defeat on the trot in the decider having come second best against Clare in 2024.

The wait to bring the Liam MacCarthy trophy back to Leeside for the first time since 2005 has now extended into another campaign.

“I suppose it’s hard to put your finger on any small thing that went wrong,” the Inniscarra player says, who is the latest Muskerry GAA/EPH Controls award winner.

“It was just an accumulation of things really. We trained well all year. There was no difference between the games.

“It was just some sort of blip that happened, but I suppose it happened a couple of times throughout the year. The second half against Clare in the Munster Championship.

“The first half against Limerick in the Munster Championship group game as well, they destroyed us in that period. 

“We’d gone through patches like that. I don’t know, maybe we didn’t address them enough, I’m not sure. Either way, we just didn’t show up really against Tipperary.

“The biggest thing I suppose is that we never really changed or killed the momentum that the opposition had.

“The beauty of sport is you get to go again.” 

Cork are under new management under the guidance of Ben O’Connor for the 2026 season after Pat Ryan moved on following the conclusion of his three-year term.

“Pat brought Cork to another level really,” O’Donoghue said, who won an All-Star last year.

“When Rob Downey replaced me as captain, I was put back in the same level playing field as everyone. There was no favouritism or anything like that. Pat had told me that, which I think really pushed me to play a bit better.

“It was kind of like it's my jersey If I wanted it, if I worked for it, that kind of pushed me to play better. I have an awful lot to thank Pat for. A great manager. A brilliant man and he did it all through a tough time as well personally. 

“I don’t think anyone in Cork has anything but admiration for him.

“Ben O’Connor and his management have come in and it has been all running really. There have been no major changes. There’s a big influx of players and there’s a big panel there at the moment.

“A lot of what we’re doing is just running and building a foundation to build on. Ben has a good record at managerial level with the Cork U20s and at club level. We all know what he was like as a player.

“I suppose my initial thoughts when he came in was that everyone’s on the same playing field now again. That’s something that I enjoy. I like pushing myself more and more.

“I think that it’s going to push every player to push themselves a bit more. It happened the first year that Pat Ryan came in. To be fair, it happened the year after as well where a couple more new players came in and everyone just pushed themselves that bit more.

“I suppose there’s always a bit of excitement when there’s any bit of change anywhere.”