Cork hurling season in review: Niall O'Leary deserves an All-Star along with Brian Hayes
CONSISTENT: Niall O'Leary didn't put a foot wrong all season for Cork, even in the All-Ireland semi-final when he shut down Aaron Niland. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
In the past three seasons, Limerick have lost six championship games, and one of those was a dead-rubber group encounter against Clare in 2025 when they made a number of changes.
Four of those defeats were to Cork, yet their main rivals in that period didn’t get their hands on Liam MacCarthy once. Falling at the last hurdle in 2024 and ’25 to Clare and Tipp is all the more galling for the Rebels now Limerick are back on top.
The only team to beat Limerick in a meaningful match in recent years outside of Cork is Dublin. You’re judged on trophies and while the league and Munster titles were secured last year, the All-Ireland drought goes on.
As they had in all three of Pat Ryan's seasons at the helm, Cork did a lot right in Ben O'Connor's maiden campaign. Yet having made three All-Ireland finals this decade, landing the big prize was the only barometer of success for 2026.
Cork need a soft reboot of the team and to approach 2027 from the bottom of the mountain. Until then, here are our Cork Hurling End-of-Season awards.
The Barrs man is the obvious choice here. He’s after taking his game to another level this summer by improving his point-shooting.
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His haul of 5-20 included 0-7 from play against Waterford and Galway and he’s very adept at bringing others into the action with pop-passes.
Niall O’Leary, Seán O’Donoghue and Mark Coleman were very consistent throughout, while Shane Barrett and William Buckley, before his surprise omission after the Munster championship, were the pick of the other forwards.
The 22-year-old was Man of the Match on his debut against Tipp with 0-5 and ended the summer with 0-19, including one free.
Barry Walsh had a strong start against the Premier as well, clipping four from play, but only added one free after.
Both will be key players in 2027 but are there any young backs or puck-out options out there who can force their way into Ben O’Connor’s plans?
Hayes is a banker to collect his second All-Star in a row.
We’d also make a strong case for O’Leary as well, who snuffed out his opponents repeatedly including Andrew Ormonde, Dessie Hutchinson, Shane O’Brien and Aaron Niland.
For what it’s worth, my All-Star 15 is:
Nickie Quaid;
Seán Finn, Cillian Trayers, Niall O’Leary;
Diarmaid Byrnes, Will O’Donoghue, Kyle Hayes;
Tiernan Killeen, Tony Kelly;
Gearóid Hegarty, Aidan O’Connor, Cathal O’Neill;
Peter Casey, Jason Rabbitte, Brian Hayes.
The opening two victories over Tipp and Limerick were impressive but Cork showed a bit of that grit they’re accused of lacking in heading down to Walsh Park minus Ciarán Joyce and Rob Downey and as good as sealing their Munster final berth with a game to spare.
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The management tweaked the line-up with Tim O’Mahony going centre-back and Hugh O’Connor getting his first start to man-mark Jamie Barron, and pulled Darragh Fitzgibbon out towards midfield to open up space for Alan Connolly and Hayes inside. That resulted in 0-10 between them, plus a host of goal chances.
Patrick Collins made some terrific saves and heading home, we felt the portents were strong for the rest of the season. Unfortunately not.
Obviously, the one-point Munster final defeat was frustrating, as Cork didn’t utilise their bench enough in such a tight game. Getting blown away by Galway in the second half of the All-Ireland semi was downright embarrassing.
An All-Star in 2025, the 24-year-old had moved from his favoured half-back berth to shore up the full-back line.
Damien Cahalane actually fared well replacing him but losing Joyce’s adaptability, controlled aggression and stick work from a defence short on options proved very, very costly.
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