Cork v Offaly: Mark Coleman says Limerick lesson not necessary 

Cork don’t need Limerick’s All-Ireland quarter-final of 2025 to act as a warning call ahead of Sunday’s clash with Offaly – Mark Coleman maintains that the Faithful County carry enough of a threat.

Having lost the Munster final to the Shannonsiders by a point last Sunday week, Cork will look to regroup and refocus as they clash with Offaly in Thurles this weekend.

A year ago, Limerick’s quest for a seventh straight provincial title ended with a penalty shootout loss to Cork and then they found themselves dumped out of the championship by Dublin a fortnight later.

It was the first time since the introduction of the round-robin provincial championship format that the Munster runners-up have failed to make the All-Ireland semi-finals but, regardless of that, Coleman knows that Cork need to get back on the horse.
“Yeah, 100 per cent,” he says.

“The games come so fast, you actually don't have time to dwell on them. You're straight into thinking about the next game; it's prep-mode straightaway.

“Obviously, you might look at a game and see where we need to improve. But if you take too long to get over it, you'll be caught out."
Equally, the uniqueness of Limerick’s scenario means that it’s not something Cork can directly draw upon.

“I suppose it's different circumstances,” Coleman says.

“That went to extra time and penalties. They were going for seven in a row and all that, so there was probably a massive amount of emotional stuff on last year's Munster final.

“This year is probably a bit different. Obviously, we were disappointed to lose it but we're still in the All-Ireland championship, which is the main thing. That's our focus going forward now.”
While Cork are strong favourites, they face an Offaly team that have shown incremental progress, losing only to Galway in Leinster and qualifying ahead of Kilkenny and Wexford.

Coleman knows that they will take out a big team soon and the challenge is to ensure that it’s not Cork’s.

“That's it, no doubt,” he says, “they're getting better and better every year.

“They took a few big scalps this year in terms of beating Wexford, drawing Dublin and Kilkenny, and they're all quality teams.

“They've properly arrived at the top level, there's no doubt about that. We just have to make sure that we're ready for them.

“When we've played them, they asked us a lot of difficult questions in terms of the way they play. They use the ball very well, they have a lot of good hurlers and very athletic young fellas, so they ask different questions than other teams would.

“But I don't think there should be complacency. It's an All-Ireland quarter-final, at the end of the day.

“There shouldn't be any complacency. I wouldn't expect there to be.”

Even though the Munster final ended in defeat, Limerick’s tally of 1-21 was below their usual.
“I'd say that had a lot to do with the conditions, especially in the first half when they were playing into the breeze,” Coleman says.

“It was very difficult to score into it, so I'd say that would have a lot to do with it. But, overall, I think it's probably the least we've conceded [in the round-robin] so you'd definitely be happy with that.
“We haven't really tweaked anything defensively. There are always probably one or two things that you'd look at from the year before. When you get caught for a few silly goals, maybe you look at the technique in your tackling and stuff and maybe that brings down a couple of goals in games.

“But I think the forwards are working as hard as ever. We're maybe just working a bit better as a unit, defensively and the forwards.”