The Echo Sport Podcast: What Cian O'Neill will bring to the Cork hurling set-up under Ben O'Connor

The big news on the Cork GAA front was the impending appointment of Cian O'Neill as the new hurling coach, following the departure of Ronan Curran as a selector.

The vastly experienced Kildare native seems like a left-field selection, given he just departed the Kerry set-up and also worked with Mayo and Galway, as well as the Cork footballers under Ronan McCarthy. He did build his reputation on the hurling front with Liam Sheedy's Tipperary side that ended Kilkenny's five-in-a-row bid in 2010.

More importantly, he had been operating as a trainer before then with Newtownshandrum when they last captured the Cork and Munster titles, which forged his connection with Ben O'Connor.

The Echo Podcast crew discuss what we can expect from O'Neill, how he could influence the hurlers' style and whether there will be a new sports psychologist coming in to replace Gerry Hussey. Ben O'Connor no doubt learned an awful lot from a first season at the helm that started positively but ended on a low in Croke Park against Galway.

Could Cork look to replicate the Tribe's counter-attacking tactics? The only issue with that is Limerick dismantled them in the All-Ireland. 

At club level, there's a massive weekend of hurling action coming up, after a break weekend where Éire Óg's footballers blitzed Clyda Rovers in a refixed match and Imokilly eased past Seandún to reach the PSHC quarter-final again.

We look at the major matches coming up and whether there will be any upsets before the pairings are set for the knockout matches across the five grades. 

TUNE IN 

Now in its fourth season, every Monday, Éamonn Murphy is joined by The Echo team, including Barry O’Mahony, Denis Hurley, Rory Noonan, John Horgan and more to discuss all the latest Cork GAA news on and off the field. You can listen on Echolive.ie/podcast or anywhere you get your podcasts.

Don’t forget to log onto www.IrishExaminer.com as well to catch up on the best inter-county analysis including Dalo’s Hurling Show and The Gaelic Football Show. Plus there's a special digital bundle offer with access to the Examiner and Clubber TV, which streams the best of the Cork GAA club matches.