Christy O'Connor: Cork hurlers need a full-back that will be a permanent and solid sentry

When Pat Ryan spoke to John Fogarty of

the day after he stepped down last August, one of the key issues he was keen to address was the rumours and untruths that had gathered huge traction in the aftermath of the All-Ireland final defeat to Tipperary.

One of the rumours suggested that a disagreement had developed around replacing Eoin Downey as the full-back had picked up a yellow card late in the first half. Downey later incurred a second yellow and was sent off after conceding a penalty for a foul on John McGrath.

The basis to some of that rumour had been framed around the management’s decision to take off Downey after he picked up a yellow card early against Limerick in the 2024 Munster round robin.

Ryan through, clarified to Fogarty the background to that decision. In Cork’s two previous games in that 2024 Munster championship against Clare and Waterford, they had two players in the full-back line sent off. And they weren’t prepared to risk a third.

“It was like, ‘If we lose again here, we’re out of the championship and we've lost because we've had three fellas sent off’,” said Ryan. 

“And we said, ‘Look, we're playing Limerick, we can't be down a man’. And that's why we took him off.” 

Downey had been yellow-carded in previous championship games prior to last year’s final but was never substituted under those circumstances. Despite being under huge pressure against Peter Duggan in Ennis last April, when Downey was also on a yellow card, the Cork management stuck with Downey.

That decision came just five weeks after Downey had also struggled on Duggan in the 2025 league. 

So if Ryan wasn’t going to take Downey off when he was on a yellow that afternoon in Ennis last April, he and his management certainly weren’t going to haul him off against Tipp last July.

“It never entered our heads once to take Eoin off,” Ryan said to Fogarty. “He was a huge player for us, a huge player for Cork going forward.” 

Downey was also still the All-Star full-back at that stage, having been selected in the position at the end of 2024. 

He looked set to be Cork’s full-back for the foreseeable future but Ben O’Connor and his management clearly have different plans for the number three jersey now.

Daire O’Leary has been full-back for Cork’s opening three games, while Downey was redeployed at wing-back against Galway and Tipperary. O’Leary has done well but it’s unknown if that debate around the number three jersey has been settled just yet.

The position was an issue at stages of last year’s championship before coming to a head in the All-Ireland final when John McGrath went to town at full-forward.

Every full-back is always going to experience some difficult moments in the jersey now, especially with how the modern game has evolved. 

No matter how well a full-back plays now, or how much of a containment job he does, players like McGrath, Duggan, Shane O’Donnell, Aaron Gillane, Shane O’Brien, Stephen Bennett, Dessie Hutchinson, Mossy Keoghan, Eoin Cody and Cian O’Sullivan are going to get, and create, scores.

A full-back is often only as good as the players around him and the goalkeeper behind him. The dynamic and telepathy of the relationship between the keeper and full-back is as important as the individual talent of both players. 

Cork are still trying to develop the relationship between Patrick Collins (who clearly still is number one under the new management) and whoever will be the full-back going forward. And settling on that position will be critical to Cork’s defensive stability and, ultimately, their championship ambitions.

TAKING SHAPE

Other than that position, the team is otherwise very settled and is already taking clear shape. 

Darragh Fitzgibbon’s move to wing-forward has opened up opportunity at midfield, which – as of now – looks like being grasped by Tommy O’Connell.

Diarmuid Healy’s form offers Cork even more scope to look at Seamus Harnedy, Declan Dalton and William Buckley in their full-forward line. Downey’s move to the half-back line presents more options than ever in that sector too. 

Yet all of those possible team formations with different personnel doesn’t exist around the full-back position. Because, as of now, nobody is fully sure who will man that spot come the championship.

O’Leary is in pole position. Damien Cahalane has huge experience in the position while being flush with options in the half-back line opens up an opportunity to look at Ciarán Joyce in that position now that he has returned from injury.

Joyce has minimal experience in the role but he did play there in the 2021 All-Ireland U20 final against Galway when O’Leary was injured.

If Cork are to look at Joyce as an option at number three, they need to start road-testing it now because there isn’t a whole lot of time left as the championship looms into view.

Could Cork look at Ger Millerick at full-back? 

He’d be an option on a player like John McGrath, but someone like Duggan, O’Brien or even a towering presence like Seán Walsh from Waterford - who is going to be a handful for any full-back in the championship - will ask different questions again.

Cork have options to play certain players there against certain opposition full-forwards on certain days, but that’s not what Cork – or any team with All-Ireland ambitions – are looking for. 

They need and want a full-back that will be a permanent and solid sentry in the position.

That search is still ongoing for Cork. And Kilkenny on Sunday presents another opportunity to see what Cork might do next around settling on the position.