On the wing a good player - Darragh Fitzgibbon equally comfortable in midfield or attack

When he was Cork manager, Pat Ryan noted how the modern hurler is not necessarily inclined towards a busman’s holiday of binge-watching the sport during downtime.

So it was that, with no activity last weekend, new Rebels captain Darragh Fitzgibbon was happy to enjoy the break, ready for the return to action this Sunday.

“When we have a weekend off, I wouldn’t usually watch any of the other matches, just to switch off from it completely,” he says

“It's not that you're not really paying attention to the games; obviously, you know the results and stuff, but we wait to analyse the games when we're here and training and stuff, just to chill out from it, really. You don't need to be bogged down with hurling.

“The nights that I do have off, I like to just spend it home and chill out and kind of forget about hurling, because you're probably up here four nights a week.

“There's a lot of things you're in the gym doing yourself, so, maybe the one night that you might have off during the week, I wouldn't be spending it focused on hurling.

“You do bits of everything. I'd spend time with the family, do something with your girlfriend – it all depends on the day, really.

“I watch a lot of American sports, mainly NFL and NBA. I don't really support any teams but watching the players and how they train and how they compete and stuff.”

Cork have been competing very well in the opening stages of the national hurling league, beating Waterford, Galway and Tipperary to top the league as they headed into a break of two free weekends.

Results elsewhere have left them at the summit as they get back on the field with Sunday’s clash against Kilkenny at UPMC Nowlan Park (3.15pm).

Fitzgibbon’s start to life as skipper under new manager Ben O’Connor saw him partner Tommy O’Connell in midfield against Waterford but the two games since saw him in the half-forward line, scoring nine points from play.

It’s not necessarily new territory for him – from last year’s league win away to Clare until the championship defeat in Limerick, he was at centre-forward with Shane Barrett on the wing but recent games have seen them in the opposite roles, with both flourishing.

Naturally, the Charleville man is happy to play where he is picked. There’s no fuss for him in switching between the lines but he acknowledges the subtle differences involved.

“I suppose, when you're in midfield, you're more kind of living off breaks and living off your team-mates trying to get you into the game,” he says.

“I suppose there's kind of been a bit made about me moving into the half-forward line there in the last week or so, but I play all of my club hurling in the half-forward line and last year, I played more games centre-forward than I played midfield, people kind of forget that.

“But, ultimately, I don't mind – I'm familiar with both roles.”

Certainly, the scoring rate against Tipp was eye-catching as he plundered seven points, with one them a 65, though it’s not to say that he never weighed in when coming from midfield.

The outcomes may be the same, but a different starting point means a different method.

“I don't think it makes much of a difference, really,” he says, “it's more that, when you're midfield, you're kind of depending maybe on running off the shoulder or someone popping the ball off to you.

“If you're in the half-forward line, you can almost go and get possessions yourself. Then, obviously, when you're midfield, you're further away from the goal so it's harder to get into scoring positions or it's harder to create chances here and there.

“You’re more of a target for puck-outs when you're in the half-forward line, so the play might be coming directly towards you and you can influence the game that way.”