Limerick v Cork: Ben O'Connor taking clash at face value

Tomorrow night’s Allianz HL Division 1A game at TUS Gaelic Grounds won’t be Cork’s last clash of the year against Limerick – but manager Ben O’Connor is taking the game on its own merits and no others.

The counties will do battle in the Munster SHC at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday, April 26 and there is even a chance that they could be the top two in the league, which would mean meeting in the final of that on the first weekend in April.

While that could mean shadow-boxing and second-guessing, O’Connor is keeping the approach simple, as has been the case for Cork’s previous four matches and four wins in the competition.

“We’re going out to pick a team to win the game, the same as we have for all of our games this year,” he says.

“If that’s good enough, then well and good; if it isn’t, we’ll just have to drive on. We put out the team that we’ve named beforehand and we hope that they go well.

“We think that we have a strong panel at the moment, so we’re not afraid to give fellas a go, either.

“We’re looking at Saturday night as Saturday night’s game; we’re not looking it at beyond that, playing in championship or playing alter down the road.

“We’re just looking at it as a league game and one we’re going down to win and hopefully we do.”

For last Sunday’s win away to Kilkenny, Cork had nine changes from the previous victory over Kilkenny, partly due to planned rotation and partly because of a sizeable injury list.

O’Connor is pleased to have two of those absentees back, as well as Shane Barrett after suspension.

“Séamie Harnedy will be back and so will Deccie Dalton,” he says.

“They trained this week and seemed to be okay.”

That leaves Robert Downey (shoulder), Mark Coleman (hamstring) and Diarmuid Healy (quad) still absent, with the half-forward unlikely to be seen before championship.

“It’ll be as long as it’ll be,” O’Connor says.

“I know Duds [Healy] is the most serious of the three of them – he’s going for a scan in a couple of weeks’ time and he’s hoping for good news on that.

“He won’t be ready for the rest of the league, we’d imagine.”

That Cork are four from four shows their depth and Sunday saw first league starts for goalkeeper Paudie O’Sullivan, Hugh O’Connor and Barry Walsh.

O’Connor will rotate again for Shannonside, expecting the competition to bring out the best in his squad.

“Obviously, you’d have to mention the three boys who made their debuts,” he says, “but William Buckley as well – he’s had a few games but this is his first year too.

“When you see the four of them, they’re pushing the thing, mad to get on, made to get playing.

“That’s going to keep everyone else on their toes, be that younger fellas or be that older fellas.
“We’ve used a good number of players so far and everyone’s getting a crack. There’s a few that haven’t got it yet, so we’ll look to get game-time into them as well.

“The same as every other day – because of injuries, there’ll be a few changes and we’ll be changing it up a small bit then as well.

“They’re all training so hard and it’s nice that every fella thinks, ‘I’ve a chance of getting in here.’

“That’s the way we’ve been going and I think that’s fair on us and fair on them.”