Donal Mulcahy relishing new challenges for Cork minors
Cork manager Donal Mulcahy and his players stand for the national anthem prior to Friday's win over Clare in the Electric Ireland Munster MHC at Páirc Uí Rinn. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Friday’s win over Clare left the Cork minor side in a good position from which to reach the Electric Ireland Munster MHC final, but it also gave the cast-iron guarantee of progression to the All-Ireland series.
Even if the young Rebels were to lose to Limerick at Páirc Uí Rinn this Friday, they would be guaranteed a fourth-placed finish at absolute worst, ensuring a place in the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals.
For manager Donal Mulcahy, advancing ensures that his team will learn a bit more about themselves.
“At the end of the day, this is about development,” he said.
“It's good for us now that we're going to be playing more – we’re certainly in an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final, certainly in a quarter-final.
“We're going to be playing a team from outside Munster and that's development again.”
Cork’s 1-22 to 1-12 win could have been a greater margin, but Mulcahy was not too concerned about the goal chances not taken.
“No, not at all,” he said.
“Some days they go in for you, some days they don't.
“We had a couple of chances and maybe the next day they go in, but no, it’s not a major worry.
“There’s always room for improvement. We’ll go away and do the review and get ready for Limerick – we know what they’re like and there’s nothing between us, we've played them at U15 and U16.”
They will certainly move forward in good shape. On Friday, they benefited from the return from injury of captain Eoin Considine and Callum Coffey while Bobby Power scored eight points having stepping up to the first 15.
The attacker’s performance showed the depth in the panel and illustrated how there are opportunities there.
“It’s the old adage again, if you're doing training, you’ll be rewarded,” Mulcahy said, “in the last two weeks, Bobby's been lighting it up.
“We couldn't leave him off the team, he picked himself on the team.
“He's done really well again, he came on and nailed a couple of frees. Bobby's very experienced. He's a really good lad, so we're delighted for him.”
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