Cork Hurling: Giving up frees a concern despite some harsh calls against Galway
John Fleming of Galway in action against Eoin Downey of Cork at Pearse Stadium on Saturday night. Picture: Ben McShane/Sportsfile
An interesting fact from the Gaelic Games Stats account noted that Cork, by winning their sixth National Hurling League game on the spin, achieved that marker for the first time since 1989.
No Rebel side has won seven league games in a row for the last 72 years, which would be a landmark they could reach against Tipperary on Saturday.
On the football side of the house, John Cleary’s men have backed up their great escape against Cavan by recording a fourth consecutive League win. With the way the fixtures fell, those victories have come in a sequence of Louth, Cavan, Cavan, Louth.
Few will get overexcited with January and February wins. Followers will still hope it offers a portent of increasing consistency across both camps embarking on the early steps of their 2026 campaigns.
Like Tipp against Galway last weekend, Ben O’Connor will be satisfied to see his troops dig out a result from a battle with a team gunning to take a scalp. More important than a polished performance is showing the hard edge to win such games, which grants valuable momentum.
At the same time, the major scope for improvement that emerged concerned Cork’s fouling.
We pointed out last week how Cork and Galway got on the wrong side of the referee in their opening-day encounters. The one-sided nature of that Páirc cruise past Waterford attracted some soft frees for the chasing side. By contrast, it was a tight and tense contest at Pearse Stadium.
Across both games, Cork have conceded 41 fouls and been fouled 20 times. The positioning of those fouls also skews against the men in red.
When you consider those within range of the target, Cork have conceded 31 scoreable frees and gained just 11. That has translated to 1-20 conceded from frees and 1-5 scored, with black-card penalties accounting for both goals.
In other cases, an early Cathal Mannion free in his own half was worked short with his brother Pádraic, which resulted in a point for the former.
It’s uncommon for teams to outgun such an imbalance in open play. O’Connor will be thrilled to compile such high totals on both outings to date without being inflated by cheap frees.
Yet in a scenario where O’Connor is auditioning free-takers to succeed Patrick Horgan, the scarcity of placed-ball opportunities for candidates like Alan Connolly to demonstrate their mettle is unfortunate.
The manager would much rather have a range of strikers stress-tested in these big arenas in case they are required in the white heat of championship.
It seems plausible that those free-count figures were underlying O’Connor’s post-match comments about administrators “trying to take the manliness out of the game”.
Judging by the cards, it wouldn’t appear that there is any excessive force behind those numbers. Across both games, Cork have received four yellows and one black. Their opponents have received three yellows, one black, and one red.
Where other teams have been better able to find that grey area, where referees let it flow, Cork haven’t quite tiptoed that tightrope at this early stage of the year. Players are eager to impress, of course, but that applies to both sides.
Out west, Galway gained seven consecutive frees before Cork were awarded their first. That 22nd-minute foul on Connolly was greeted by ironic cheers from the travelling faithful. That began a streak of three in three minutes, but the visitors won just four more in the subsequent 45 minutes of play.
Declan Dalton was particularly aggrieved by being penalised for the next free, after tracking back to get a clean flick on the sliotar before Joshua Ryan could secure possession.
Dáire O’Leary was perplexed by the next decision, which was similar to an earlier free against the full-back without the same level of contact. A third such foul late on would see him booked, while he was also called for a throw.
Robert Downey and Tommy O’Connell would each be punished for three fouls, while another three players fouled twice.
Even from the second-half throw-in, the Cork midfield were penalised for a loose swipe at the sliotar.
Once they tidied up that component, they fully merited their victory.
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