What Cork hurlers learned from last league clash with Galway in Salthill

Cork's last league trip up to Galway in 2023 came in similar circumstances to this weekend's visit to Salthill.

Pat Ryan was the new manager on that occasion and had opened his competitive account with an impressive victory in round one, beating All-Ireland champions Limerick through an injury-time Shane Kingston point. 

In a wild and flowing clash at Pearse Stadium, Cork were 4-24 to 3-22 winners, doing the fatal damage with a burst of 2-3 without reply early in the second half.

Seán Twomey and Conor Lehane, with his second, raised the green flags, as the visitors surged 3-16 to 1-13 ahead after a lively first half ended at 1-13 apiece. A red card for Oisin Salmon for a foul on Twomey gave Cork an extra man, which they used efficiently.

Twomey stitched his second goal after 67 minutes to make it 4-23 to 1-21. However, Galway finished with a flourish, Martin McManus and Brian Concannon raising green flags before Patrick Collins saved a Kevin Cooney penalty.

The Rebels would have been carrying the added motivation of their galling 2022 All-Ireland quarter-final loss to Galway, 2-19 to 1-21, into this league game.

By the same token, the line-up was experimental. Niall O'Leary, Damien Cahalane, Seán O'Donoghue, Rob Downey, Mark Coleman, who missed the full season through injury, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Robbie O'Flynn, Seamus Harnedy, Tim O'Mahony and Alan Connolly all started the previous summer but were unavailable.

STEP UP

It's interesting to see who pushed on since being given the nod by Ryan and his selectors in early 2023. 

Eoin Downey went on to secure an All-Star at full-back, and Shane Barrett, who had been blooded by Kieran Kingston, has developed into an elite forward, along with Brian Hayes, who came off the bench to snipe a point. Cormac O'Brien and Tommy O'Connell are still key members of the panel. 

Eoin and Brian Roche were both called on by Ben O'Connor and his management against Waterford and start on Saturday night in Salthill.

Conor O'Callaghan and Seán Twomey, who were both dogged by injuries, Sam Quirke, Cormac Beausang, Colin Walsh and Conor Cahalane aren't on the panel anymore, with Luke Meade and Lehane also gone.

Cork finished their section of the 2023 league unbeaten, with wins over Westmeath and Wexford and a draw with Clare, but lost the league semi-final to Kilkenny. Limerick defeated the Cats in the decider after, and repeated the feat in the All-Ireland to complete a clean sweep of silverware.

2023 League: Galway 3-22 Cork 4-24

Scorers for Galway: E Niland 0-11 (0-8 f), M McManus 1-3, K Cooney 1-1, B Concannon 1-0, C Whelan 0-2, P Mannion, J Flynn, C Mannion, L Collins (f), C Fahy 0-1 each.

Cork: D Dalton 0-8 (0-2 f), C Lehane 2-3, S Twomey 2-0, S Kingston 0-6 (0-4 f), S Barrett 0-4, B Hayes, C Beausang, C Cahalane 0-1 each.

GALWAY: Darach Fahy; Jack Grealish, Gearóid McInerney, Oisin Salmon; Padraic Mannion, Joseph Cooney, Darren Morrissey; Gavin Lee, Seán Linnane; Tom Monaghan, Conor Whelan, Jason Flynn; Evan Niland, Kevin Cooney, Martin McManus.

Subs: Cianan Fahy for Monaghan (h-t), Cathal Mannion for Lee (44), Ronan Murphy for Morrissey (54), Brian Concannon for Flynn (56), Liam Collins for Niland (66).

CORK: Patrick Collins; Conor O'Callaghan, Eoin Downey, Eoin Roche; Cormac O'Brien, Ciarán Joyce, Tommy O’Connell; Sam Quirke, Brian Roche; Declan Dalton, Conor Lehane, Sean Twomey; Cormac Beausang, Shane Barrett, Shane Kingston.

Subs: Luke Meade for Quirke (39), Brian Hayes for Beausang (47), Conor Cahalane for Barrett (55), Padraig Power for Kingston (57), Colin Walsh for Roche (68).

Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick)