Christy O'Connor on Cork hurling: Declan Dalton is best bet as championship free-taker

Declan Dalton stood over a penalty and smashed it past Waterford’s Billy Nolan, blasting it to Nolan’s right-hand side and beyond the despairing dive of the Waterford goalkeeper.

Except that wasn’t just last Sunday but nine years ago in the 2017 Munster U21 semi-final against Waterford in Walsh Park when Dalton’s winning penalty sensationally drove Cork into a Munster final.

Almost a decade on, Nolan had a fair idea of what Dalton was likely to do again last Sunday. Most strikers taking a penalty off their left side would hit the ball to the goalkeeper’s left as they can generate more power from swinging across their body.

Dalton though, isn’t most like most strikers because he can generate such huge power with whatever range he uses. 

Nolan tried to second-guess Dalton by edging closer to his right and moving a fraction before Dalton hit the ball but it made no difference because the shot hit the side-netting.

NERVELESS

It was a more devastating finish – in terms of placement - than that U21 semi-final but that Dalton penalty nine years earlier was even more impressive in the context of it being the winning score with the last puck.

He showed immense nerve that evening but Dalton’s ability from placed balls has been on show ever since. 

When Fr O’Neill’s edged out Erin’s Own in a key group match in Killeagh last September, Dalton’s 1-8 from placed balls was critical to the outcome.

One of his long-range frees that afternoon was from so far back the field that it was nearly inside the Waterford border. 

Dalton struck the ball from the line on the D (and not the top of the D), but the sliotar was still travelling by the time it cleared the crossbar.

Dalton is probably the cleanest, purest and most powerful striker in the country. He has shown that placed-ball striking ability at various stages for Cork. 

And after Patrick Horgan retired last year, Dalton looked the most natural successor to take over that placed-ball duty.

He should, but it isn’t that cut and dried. Alan Connolly was on free-taking duty last Sunday, while Darragh Fitzgibbon assumed the responsibility when Connolly was off the field receiving treatment.

Ben O’Connor has yet to make a firm decision as to who will be Cork’s number one free-taker, but Cork certainly have options; Dalton, Fitzgibbon, Mark Coleman, Ben Cunningham, Shane Kingston.

Dalton had a chance during last year’s league to firmly raise his hand as the next man up when Horgan stepped away, but he let it slip through his fingers. 

With Horgan on the bench for the opening game against Wexford, Dalton assumed the responsibility and had 1-4 bagged from placed balls before being sent off and picking up a two-game suspension.

Fitzgibbon took over for the round two game against Limerick and did a fine job. Horgan came onto the pitch after 17 minutes when Pádraig Power suffered a serious injury but Pat Ryan left Fitzgibbon with the free-taking duties. 

On a horrendous night, he finished with 0-9 from placed balls, including the equalising free with the last play.

Missing those couple of games denied Dalton the opportunity to lock down a starting place when the team was playing so well last spring. 

He only came on in the league final and in Cork’s opening championship match against Clare before reclaiming his spot for the round two clash against Tipp to replace the suspended Shane Barrett.

Dalton scored 1-6 that afternoon, which included two frees, before pulling his hamstring after just seven minutes against Limerick, which ruled him out of the rest of the Munster championship.

When Horgan was gone off the field for extra time of the Munster final, Fitzgibbon nailed the last-gasp ’65 that took the match to penalties.

Despite having effectively missed three successive games, Cork still drafted Dalton back into the starting team for the All-Ireland semi-final and he was immense against Dublin. As well as scoring 0-3 from play, Dalton was centrally involved in 2-4. His long-range missile striking and free-taking was also a signature emblem of that Cork performance.

POINT TO PROVE

In the All-Ireland final though, Dalton was replaced again for the second year in a row on hurling’s biggest day when playing nowhere near to his potential.  Dalton, who failed to score from play in both of those finals, was the first Cork player substituted on both days.

It's always a risk to entrust the freet-aking duties to a player not guaranteed to start in the championship, but suspension and injury were the primary reasons Dalton wasn’t a guaranteed starter in 2025.

Dalton did profit from Seamus Harnedy’s injury after last year’s Munster final, which reopened the door for the Fr O’Neill’s man, but the main doubts around his capacity to lock down a starting berth are based on his last two All-Ireland final performances.

Addressing that inconsistency is something Dalton needs to prove to himself as much as anyone else but he looked in superb physical shape last Sunday for so early in the season.

Ben O’Connor wants, but he also needs, to have options on placed balls duties when the last two seasons has proven that the number one freetaker is not always on the pitch when the game is effectively being decided. 

Cork’s two best penalty-takers – Horgan and Dalton – weren’t available when last year’s Munster final went to a shootout.

That is at the back of O’Connor and the management’s minds now as they rotate free-takers during the league. Still, they’ll also have accepted that Dalton is the best free-taker in the squad.

And if he’s on duty on Saturday night, the Salthill venue – one of the trickiest in the country for freetakers – would be an ideal testing ground to find out if Dalton is the right man to be handed that responsibility.