Omitting players the hardest task but Ben O'Connor hails unity within Cork squad

It is perhaps no surprise that, during the round-robin section of the Munster SHC, Cork and Limerick were the most stable in terms of team selection.

Even allowing for injuries to Ciarán Joyce, Robert Downey and captain Darragh Fitzgibbon, the Rebels used just 18 starters as they won all four matches, with the Shannonsiders clocking in with 19 while the other three counties had more.

With Fitzgibbon again ruled out for Sunday’s final against the Treatymen at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the same starting 15 looks the logical call for Cork – but Ben O’Connor is all too aware of how much everyone else is pushing.

“Every one of them have a case,” he says.

“If you see what these fellas are putting into it and you're telling them they're not in the 26 this week, it's a horrible job to have to go around and say it to 11 fellas on the Thursday night when you pick the team.

“But in fairness to our lads, there hasn't been a geek out of anyone – 'Okay, is there anything I can do better to get a chance next week?' and that's the way they've all taken it. There hasn't been a word of giving out from any fella. They've just got on with it, took a knock, they've accepted that they're one of the 37.

HONOUR

“There are 37 fellas we have in, but how many more fellas in Cork would like to be number 37, but they're not good enough or they're just not there at the moment? 

How many more fellas would like to be here? That's the way the boys are looking at it.

“It's an honour to be involved in the group at the moment. Every fella is pulling together and we're doing the best that we can for Cork hurling. Where that will take us, who knows? But at the moment, they're all putting their best foot forward.”

That collective effort will be required on Sunday if Cork are to retain their provincial title, against the side that had won the six editions prior to that.

As a Newtownshandrum native, O’Connor is more aware than anyone of how well Limerick have done.

“They've kept it going so long,” he says, “they're there for the last 10 or 12 years and it's hard to keep that going. It's a lot of the same players that they've had and they're able to keep it going.

“They play to a system that suits them, they don't change it for anyone. They just do what they do and they stick to that. They believe in that and it has obviously been working for them. They've been the standard-bearers for the last 10 or 12 years.

Any team that gets over them seems to go on to win the All-Ireland, bar us. Good players and I suppose they're still the team to beat.”

But of course Cork have already beaten them this year, triumphing by two points in the round-robin game at the Páirc in April.

They became the first county since Tipperary in 2019 to win all four matches – but, while the Premier County won that year’s All-Ireland, they lost the Munster final to Limerick.

O’Connor accepts that it is a challenge to keep the run going but he sees the positives, too.

"The other side of that is you have a bit of momentum with four games won,” he says.

“But we know that next Sunday is the biggest game that we're going to play this year and that's the way we treat every game. It's always about the next game with us. There's going to be a big Cork crowd and a big Limerick crowd. It's going to be a fierce battle but our boys are ready for it.

READY

“This is where we wanted to be at the start of the year, inside in the thick of it. You saw the last day, the sun shining, 24 or 25 degrees, a big crowd in and around the place, a great atmosphere... that's what these fellas are bred for, that's what they're training for.

“These fellas are doing six nights a week now, between gym and collective training sessions and everything. They're professional in everything bar getting paid.”