CORK have secured the early season bragging rights over Tipperary, defeating them in the league and in a challenge game at Cloughduv last Sunday night.
The big question now of course is, will they get the opportunity to make it three in-a-row against their greatest rivals in the Munster championship.
They will meet in the final if Cork can overcome Clare or Waterford in the semi-final and Tipperary can get the better of Limerick in their semi-final assignment.
In both cases it’s a tall order and whilst Tipp will be more fancied to defeat Limerick than Cork will be against Clare or Waterford, another collision between the big two could materialise.
Just as easily of course you could have a Waterford, Limerick final or a Clare, Limerick final.
Winning a Munster championship is a big ask, much more than winning its Leinster counterpart where realistically it’s boils down to Kilkenny and Galway with Dublin seemingly having slipped down the pecking order again and the rest well below them.
Before a ball is pucked in Munster, the five participants are in with a shout of ending that campaign with the trophy.
Tipperary would be the number one choice to come out on top and at this juncture they would have to be viewed as being ahead of the rest.
That would be based on the fact that they appear to have a much greater depth in their squad than the others and that in Eamon O’Shea they have just the manager that will extract the maximum from them.
The other four, Cork, Clare Limerick and Waterford would be seen to be competing on a very level playing field with little or nothing dividing them.
Whilst a Tipperary encounter against any one of the four would be viewed as 55/45 in Tipp’s favour, any game involving the other four would 50/50.
Of course there is a school of thought now that taking the qualifier route can be more beneficial and that a county can get more by going down that road.
On the other side of the coin if you end up as Munster champions you will avoid Kilkenny until, most likely, the All-Ireland final.
Conversely, the qualifying route gives you extra games and you might not suffer a loss of momentum between a provincial victory and All- Ireland semi-final when the time span might be seen as too great.
The perfect scenario of course is to win both the provincial and All-Ireland titles but there is no doubt at all now that with the advent of the qualifiers, the provincial system is diluted even if the players tell you it is not.
The only goal now is to win the All Ireland, that’s definitely the case where Tipp and Kilkenny are concerned and at the end of the year if they win out in the province and don’t go on to win an All-Ireland the year will not have been a success at all.
Peaking at the right time comes into it too and with Munster being the minefield that it is, counties involved there have to be careful not to peak too soon and then find themselves unable to do so in the Autumn months.
Until Galway came along in Leinster it was almost a given that Kilkenny were going to more or less saunter through the province because of the fact that Wexford and Offaly had regressed so much since their glory days.
Now it seems that Dublin are not going to fulfil the potential that they showed in winning the league two years ago so it’s back to a two-horse race again between the Cats and Galway.
The qualifiers definitely are a real safety valve for teams now.
Take Tipp in 2010, well beaten by Cork in Munster and ending up as All Ireland champions a few months later.
It could happen again this year, Limerick, at the Gaelic Grounds, dumping them out of Munster and they ending up back in Croke Park in September.
Different counties have different objectives for the year and whilst the All Ireland is the be all and end all for the perceived top three of Kilkenny, Tipp and Galway, the target might be a bit lower for the others.
Where Cork are concerned, as we have stated before, getting into a Munster final for the first time since 2010 has to be the only priority at this point in time.
It has to be a similar story for Clare and Limerick, Clare bidding for a first final appearance since 2008 and Limerick since 2007.
Tipp’s performance in 2010 is interesting, they put the defeat by Cork that year firmly behind them, they re-grouped very well and we all know what transpired afterwards.
The qualifiers served Tipp well that year as they did Cork back in 2004 and Kilkenny had to use them last year after being beaten by Galway in the Leinster final.
So the days of winning out in the province being of paramount importance are no more and that’s reflected too in the attendance figures in recent years.
Just 26,438 attended last year’s Munster final in Pairc Ui Chaoimh between Tipp and Waterford, 30,240 the previous year between the same counties and just 22,763 for the Waterford-Cork replay in 2010, 13,000 down on the drawn encounter.
Of course the economic climate has a lot to do with those declining figures too and if you go back to 2003 and 2004 you had 52,000 present in both years for Cork and Waterforrd.
Changed times on the field, changed times off it and here’s an interesting statistic
In the first eight years of the qualifiers only one county needed them to win the All-Ireland whilst in the past three years it has happened twice.

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The Christy O’Connor column
ABOUT half an hour after Sunday’s Division One relegation final, RTE Radio’s John Kenny grabbed Clare’s Colm Galvin for a quick interview.
Asked for his response when Clare went five points down with 17 minutes remaining in normal time, Galvin said he had no doubts. Neither had his team-mates.
“We knew we could come back,” he said.
“We had already done it against Cork in the league. Plus, we have trained unbelievably hard and we knew we had it in the legs.”
When you look at Sunday’s game coldly and clinically, Clare just steamrolled Cork in the last 35 minutes, including extra-time. Fitness wise, Cork could not compete with their opponents who ran them in to the ground.
Although you have to factor in extra-time, the concession of 0-31 is a huge concern for Cork in such an important game.
Clare hit 23 wides but it is even more of a horror show for Cork when you examine the contrasting scoring opportunities both sides had from play.
Over the 90 minutes, Clare created 53 chances from play; Cork created 32. If you forensically study some of the chances Clare missed or dropped short, factoring in poor shot selection and some dire shooting, they could have had at least 12 extra scores. So in theory, Cork could have conceded 43 scores.
Everywhere you turn, the statistics are horrendous for Cork. Cork had actually competed well on puckouts in the first-half, when the sides shared the count 15-15. Clare had won eight Cork puckouts in that period but they won Cork puckouts for fun over the following 55 minutes.
In the second half, Clare won the category 21-11, winning an astonishing 18 Cork puckouts. In extra-time, Clare won it 12-7. In total, Clare won 35 Cork puckouts.
That is even more of a concern given that Cork have been working hard in training on winning breaking ball.
There was little variation on Cork’s puckouts. It was route-one too frequently.
Pa Cronin was an effective target for Anthony Nash in the first half when he won five puckouts. Yet in that period, Cronin was playing centre-forward and was able to move into space to get on to the ball. When Cronin played wing-forward after the break, he had less space to run into and it was far easier for Brendan Bugler to tie him up and knock the ball away from him.
Cork’s half-forward line was obliterated after half-time but there was little or no movement on the Cork puckout.
After losing another puckout, which Domhnall O’Donovan won before setting up John Conlan for a point, Nash threw his hands up in the air in exasperation before taking the next puckout.
He drove it long, O’Donovan won it again and Tony Kelly drove the pass over the bar to level the match with seven minutes remaining.
The most worrying aspect of Sunday’s defeat though, was the sheer lack of leadership in the side. That area has been a concern for this team but it really manifested itself when Cork were crying out for it.
Most of Cork’s big names are up front – Cronin, Patrick Horgan, Paudie O’Sullivan, Luke O’Farrell and Conor Lehane. Some of them are young but Clare’s key performers on Sunday were even younger. Colm Galvin was man-of-the-match.
Tony Kelly wasn’t far behind him with six points from play.
Both are under 20.
Cronin did stand up for long stages of the game, especially in the first half and in the last 20 minutes when he nailed 1-1.
Horgan scored three points from play from ten plays in the first 55 minutes. O’Farrell always looked threatening in possession from 13 plays over the 90 minutes. O’Sullivan and Lehane made 11 plays each while they were on the field.
Over the 90 minutes, those five players made a combined total of 62 plays. For a start, that total is extremely low over 90 minutes. Yet in the last 35 minutes, the total number of plays from those five players was just 22. To underline that deficit, that is an average of four plays each in a half.
No team will win anything with that return from key players. It’s true that Clare were running riot at that stage.
Cork weren’t forceful enough in the middle third and they didn’t even seem to have the energy or the legs to get back and cover the ground.
Yet you can only blame lack of fitness for so much.
It may seem unfair to single out some of Cork’s big names up front but the reality is that Cork desperately need those guys doing the business.
Whether they like it or not, Cork’s future hopes hangs on their shoulders and they have to accept and embrace the challenge.
That is underlined even more when you look at most of Cork’s best play on Sunday; the role Lehane played in O’Farrell’s goal; the timing and ball-winning ability of Cronin’s goal; O’Farrell’s class to set up O’Sullivan’s goal chance in the 55th minute; the way O’Farrell, O’Sullivan and Horgan combined for a superb point early in extra-time. They must do it more consistently though.
Looking forward, Cork won’t fear the winners of Clare and Waterford in the Munster semi-final. Cork have plenty of time to get themselves right but Sunday’s game was still a big blow. And it’s only next year that the more long-term implications of relegation may be hammered home.

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The David Corkery column
IF YOU were to ask a thousand people where the home of Munster rugby is, nine hundred and ninety nine of them would probably reply ‘Limerick’.
Because of the historical importance that reverberates within the walls of Thomond Park, Limerick will always be the preferred and chosen answer.
Yet, for players who were groomed and nurtured in the university, clubs and schools of Cork their anthem will always be ‘The Banks’.
Munster rugby is unique for many reasons, as we saw last Sunday. However, the one fundamental difference that really separates it from the rest is the fact that the team has two centres and are supplied with players predominantly by two cities.
The contribution that is made by the rugby nurseries of Cork often goes unrewarded and at times can be quite frustrating.
The Sky Sports pundits constantly praise the city of Limerick for all it has done for the Heineken Cup, when, truth be told, only for Cork’s own Tommy Kiernan, the competition may not even exist.
The same can be said for the Cork players who have the honour of donning the famous jersey.
After last Sunday when Rob Penney’s men turned the competition on its head, the role that was played by the Cork contingent in his squad needs to be singled out for special praise.
Of the 15 who started the game there were five from Cork, and on the bench we had three more.
Denis Hurley, Simon Zebo, Ronan O’Gara, Peter O’Mahony and James Coughlan all started, and Stephen Archer, Donncha O’Callaghan and Ivan Dineen acted as back-up.
Each and every one of these players formed part of a chain that literally strangled the Londoners into submission.
Even the part played by young Ivan Dineen, who didn’t get a run was vital.
When you consider that Hurley deputised for the injured Dougie Howlett, who holds the prestigious title of having scored the most amount of tries for the All Blacks, it speaks volumes for the Kinsale man’s capabilities.
There is very little that can be said about the flamboyant Zebo that hasn’t been written to date.
A product of PBC and Cork Con, the 23 year-old seems to have it all.
Pace, bravery and — most importantly — belief.
Warren Gatland would be silly if he didn’t include him when he picks his Lions selection.
Then there is James Coughlan. The most effective number eight in the country by a mile. It now looks like Coughlan may well go through his career without getting the ultimate reward of an Irish cap.
He has been Munster’s stand out player for the last three seasons and the work ethic he showed last Sunday was incredible.
Another player who should be on the plane down under with the Lions is O’Mahony.
The fact that he can play in all three positions in the backrow will make him a very viable option.
The way he threw himself around the field on Sunday carried a note of caution, but that is what makes him the player he is.
There would not be enough pages in the Evening Echo to list O’Gara’s achievements.
A man who undoubtedly underestimates his contribution to the game, not only in this country, but world wide.
What has stood O’Gara apart from all the rest has been his dogged ability to never accept second best.
There is no doubt he has had his demons over the years, but through all the ups and downs his capacity to rise above all others will be the legacy he leaves behind when he decides to call it quits.
The smile on his face said it all when the final whistle was sounded on Sunday.
All we can say is thank you.
It would be wrong of me not to give a special mention to Donncha O’Callaghan, given his contribution to the jersey for so long.
Having started the game in the academy of Highfield with his brothers many years ago the gentle giant has achieved all the game has to offer, even down to captaining the Lions.
Like Coughlan the unappreciated donkey work Donncha gets through is immense.
There is also another part of the Munster juggernaut from Cork that must get the credit they deserve.
Starting at the top, you have CEO Gareth Fitzgerald, the man who signs the cheques, and is ultimately responsible for everything.
Then there is Paul McCarthy, who has single-handedly turned the fortunes of the Munster scrum around in a very short period of time.
Best described as a ‘cute Cork hoor!’
Bryan Murphy, the operations manager, Aidan O’Connell, strength and conditioning coach, Patrick Hanley, physio, and Elliot Corcoran, who analyses the players’ performances, also play an integral part of the greater Munster team.
Lastly there are the people who travel all over Europe to support the team they love so much.
Travelling the Cork Limerick road on a Heineken Cup match day could be diplomatically described as a nightmare, because of the hoards that make the pilgrimage to Thomond Park.
The money they spend and the effort these supporters make is something the players take very seriously.
So the next time you are asked where is the home of Munster rugby? You might want to reply by saying: ‘They have two, Cork and Limerick’.
You can travel the world and live in many houses, but in the end you will only have one home.
For some it is Limerick but for others it will always be Cork.

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“Perhaps our most difficult choice at that time was forgoing the services of Denis Allen in 1973.
“He was a proven star player, and loyal to the club but he was pursuing an opportunity to play with Cork Hibernians in the League of Ireland. When he did return to the club he became an immensely valuable player and went on to captain Cork to a senior All-Ireland title in 1989.
“We also built relationships with clubs like St Vincent’s and UCD in Dublin, Austin Stacks, Tralee, and Walsh Island (Offaly).”
Within three years Nemo’s three objectives of 1969 were achieved. “Our first senior county came in 1972 under the inspired captaincy and coaching of Billy Morgan.
“The testimony to Billy is that the club is still playing the nucleus of these coaching methods today in all grades, not to mention the four in a row Munster titles against Kerry.
“Finally in 1972 a new pitch was acquired on the Cross Douglas Road. This could not have been achieved without the financial backing of the Cork County Board.
“The development of a pitch and pavilion put a debt of £100,000 on the club members that today could be counted in millions. The faith of the County Board was probably tempered by the average age of our senior committee (30 years), and the strength of our under age.
“We now have bigger premises on the South Douglas Road with a very healthy bank balance — a big response to the faith of the GAA.”
Denis knows that the success of the past is no guarantee for what lies ahead in the future.
“Many more achievements must be made including more attention to our hurling. We have slipped back to junior at present.”
Nevertheless, the platform that has been built during those last four decades is a far better starting point than most other clubs can call on. As the past 40 years have shown, it is impossible to predict the future, but with the right attitude and right people in charge, you can shape it.

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The Christy O’Connor column
WHEN Cork and Clare met in Round 3 of the Hurling League in mid-March, the first real passion that came flowing from the home crowd in Páirc Uí Rinn arrived more in anger than elation when referee Johnny Ryan awarded what they felt was a dubious Clare free in the 54th minute.
Colin Ryan converted it to push Clare in front, by 0-16 to 0-15, and suddenly it dawned on the Cork players and supporters that they wouldn’t be able to boss the game in third gear as they had managed in the opening half.
By that stage, Clare had reeled in a five-point half-time deficit and they swamped Cork in deluge of second-half points. Clare were superb, reaching a scoring level that seemed completely beyond them in the first half.
After half-an-hour, Cork were leading by five points and cruising, while Clare hadn’t scored from play. Cork were still ahead by five points 10 minutes in to the second-half when Clare suddenly exploded, hitting eight points without reply in as many minutes. They took a blow-torch to Cork and burned them to a crisp.
Even when Clare were struggling in the opening half, they still managed to win the puckout stat 21-12. Their defence swallowed up Cork’s attack after the break, restricting them to just two scores from play in the regular 35 minutes.
When Cork looked at their stats afterwards, they could see that their workrate was way off the required standard. Their tackle count was half of what it had been in their previous game against Waterford. When they dug out another draw against Galway a week after the Clare game, their tackle count was similar to what it had been against Waterford.
That is the first lesson Cork will take into Sunday’s crucial relegation final against Clare. They will have also learned from events off the field because members of both management teams got involved in a heated verbal exchange just before half-time. It may have been started by Clare but the Cork management felt afterwards that it played in to Clare’s hands. That is another lesson they will have absorbed.
Tipp felt that Clare showed them their hand in the Waterford Crystal Cup final and Cork should have a similar idea now of how Clare operate. Clare’s style is similar to the one Davy Fitzgerald often used with Waterford in championship matches, especially against Kilkenny and Tipperary.
Along with a strong emphasis on defence, he prefers a two-man full-forward line, with a second corner-forward tucked in behind the opposition centre-back. He then wants the ball played down the channels for the two inside forwards to run on to, where they can either take on their man or ship it back outside to the support runners.
If the ball doesn’t go straight into the channels, a deep lying Tony Kelly is the preferred outlet for deliveries from defence or midfield. Kelly has the pace and class to always get into scoring range and has hit 2-12 from play in five games to date.
Yet Clare have played most of this league with a one-man full-forward line where Shane O’Donnell has been operating a role John Mullane was often asked to fulfil with Waterford.
Clare also sometimes line up with their half-forward playing extremely deep, with their inside forwards in a straight line down the middle of their attack. That is a tactic often used by football teams, especially Dublin and Donegal, where each inside forward knows when and where to move once the ball is sprayed either side of that middle line.
The Clare U21s gunned down Kilkenny by 1-10 to 0-4 in the second-half of last year’s All-Ireland final by playing with four, often just three forwards. Most of Clare’s young players are comfortable with adapting to that style but it is harder to implement at senior level, given the increased pace and physicality of defenders.
Clare’s style of play, with a lot of shooting from distance, also does not always lend itself towards scoring goals. In the ten league and championship games they have played since last year’s Division 1B final, they have scored just seven goals. Two of those came from placed balls, while Clare have never hit more than one goal in a match.
In their defence, Clare have been playing with a very inexperienced full-forward line. Three of the players that started there last summer were under 21. Three of the four that started the five games this spring are still under 21.
Two of the squad’s proven goalscorers – Conor McGrath and Darach Honan – have also been out injured. Honan though, made four cameo appearances totalling 24 minutes in Clare’s last four games after two injury-plagued seasons.
He has had a couple of weeks to get his fitness up to the required standards because Clare have trained harder than any other hurling county over the last few months. Going hard so early may limit the gas in their tank come the summer but Cork have already seen the turbo boost they have at their disposal in the spring.
Clare will be confident from their win four weeks ago. Plus, most of their younger players have never lost to Cork at any level before. 14 of the 19 players which featured against Cork four weeks ago have All-Ireland U21 medals.
Clare gave Cork a lesson in March. How much of those lessons have been absorbed by Cork in the meantime will go a long way towards deciding their fate at the weekend.

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Sarah O’Donovan makes the argument the Cork hurling selectors shouldn’t be reading too much into Fitzgibbon form, and that Pa Cronin is not a centre-back…

IT WAS described as  capitulation, Cork’s demise to Clare in Páirc Ui Rinn on Saturday night.
A five-point lead overturned by the Banner and a six-point defeat recorded at the final whistle.
What was evident from the loss is that it’s important not to pay too much heed to the Fitzgibbon Cup.
That competition is played in an early-season bubble. So while it’s an excellent forum for developing talent, it shouldn’t be the only one that’s looked at when inter-county panels are being formed in the latter part of the season.
There are senior club hurlers who have shown as much promise in the summer, as members of the current panel have in early spring, but do not have the benefit of the exposure that comes with playing at third level.
While it may be refreshing to see players from lower grade clubs getting an opportunity to play for Cork as a result of their Fitzgibbon Cup exploits, a number of players are being overlooked because they don’t come under the microscope until mid-summer.
What I am saying issome of the current panel are no better than players lining out every week in Cork’s club hurling leagues. If the same attention was shown to those players as is being shown to players playing Fitzgibbon, a more balanced outfit might emerge.
What was evident from Saturday night was that Cork do not have a nailed down centre-back.
The Patrick Cronin experiment is surely over. Cork’s only defined ball-winning forward, in the absence of Niall McCarthy, needs to return to the 40.
While Cork’s defence was quite neat in patches on Saturday night, their distribution was poor and as a result they negated the role of Daniel Kearney, which resulted in him being taken off.
You have to question whether players understand their role when they are given a position that they haven’t played in before. Are they shown DVD footage so that they fully understand what it is that is expected of them?
While Patrick Cronin caught two superb balls in the first half on Saturday night, he was nowhere to be seen when Clare took a quick sideline cut to Colin Ryan who slotted over, taking full advantage of the acres of space that were left open by Cronin.
The Cork captain had followed his man. A veteran centre-back would have organised it so that someone else took up his marker and he occupied the space.
There are big shoes to fill for the next centre-back, following the two mainstays of the defence Brian Corcoran and Ronan Curran. Each of those All-Stars put their own spin on the position, though it could be argued too that the requirements of a number six have changed.
The best performance given by a centre-back so far in this league series has been Galway’s Joseph Cooney against Kilkenny.
Cooney was extremely clever that day and footage of that display should be what the Cork management review with the next player to step in to the breach at centre-back. That could be Christopher Joyce, the U21 number six, who started there against Tipp in the league opener, but was on the wing in the past two games.

The same argument can be made for centre-forward. Conor Cooney’s display for his club St Thomas in the All-Ireland club hurling final was superb.
Coaching is educating players and the easiest way to show a player how to do a task is to give them an example.
Furthermore there is no sense in starting a player like Daniel Kearney at midfield if he is not utilised properly.
While it can be argued that Conor O’Sullivan was efficient for the most part at corner-back against Clare, a booming clearance that took the bones of five seconds to come out of the sky explains the problem with Cork’s distribution.
By the time that ball dropped, the Clare players had arranged themselves underneath it.
Youghal played Cloyne on St Patrick’s Day and former Cork hurler Diarmuid O’Sullivan gave Youghal’s Bill Cooper a torrid hour. What was most impressive about O’Sullivan’s display though was his distribution, every ball favoured Cloyne.
Cork’s management needs to start with that aspect of the game, which was so impressive against Tipp.
They will be very disappointed with the lack of fight shown when the Banner came back at them in the second half, as very few of the positives lauded after their win over Tipp were evident.
There has been a call for leaders to emerge from the group. The responsibility lies solely with the players on that front and starts with Patrick Cronin.
He has been awarded the captaincy and has to embrace the responsibility that comes with such a role on the field and not just in the dressing room.

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The Rebels had that bit more drive and intensity midway through the second half when the game was there to be won, and their efforts generated a suitable response from the large crowd, which fuelled them further.

Had Cork lost over the weekend though – on the back of league and championship defeats in 2012 – they would certainly have been harbouring doubts when the sides next meet. They laid down a marker in a tie they would have targeted when the league fixtures were made. Sometimes that’s enough at this time of year.

Having said that, there’s no doubt that the management and their players gleaned a bit of information from the springtime shadow boxing. Mimicking their rivals’ blanket defence and counterattacking was profitable, with Michael Shields and Eoin Cadogan getting enough support to prevent Michael Murphy or Colm McFadden scoring from play.

Eight of Donegal’s 10 points were from placed balls and for 25 minutes of the second half Jim McGuinness’ charges didn’t score at all. While Ken O’Halloran made two critical saves after half-time, both from Ross Wherity, which would have given Donegal a five-point advantage, and a Cadogan foul was all that prevented Murphy goaling late on, the All-Ireland champions had to earn every point.

At the other end Cork’s approach play struck the right blend between patience and quick changes of the point of attack. They didn’t launch too many long balls inside, but with Colm O’Neill stretchered off with a nasty knee injury – after curling over two sensational points – and Ciarán Sheehan, Donncha O’Connor and Daniel Goulding absent, the Rebels didn’t have the luxury of natural target men.

Utilising Mark Collins as a link man and auxiliary defender, particularly with Pa Kelly injured, was a key part to the result and huge positive. Collins was overlooked for the Dublin and Kildare losses – which I couldn’t fathom though may have been to do with his Sigerson-winning commitments with DIT – but since he’s been starting Cork have played more fluidly and won three games in a row.

He’s economical with possession, a lovely kickpasser, and nimble and fit enough to cover every blade of grass. The Castlehaven man unquestionably has the talent to nail down a championship berth.

Albeit against the full brunt of Donegal’s aggression, Cork were betrayed last season by their shooting from around the 45. They squandered opportunities again on Saturday – three times hitting the post from distance – but their approach was more coherent and the majority of their long-range efforts were justified.

Paudie Kissane’s two points were sublime, but first-half sub Liam Shorten, Aidan Walsh – with the score of the game – and Paul Kerrigan also landed rousing efforts. Kissane and Kerrigan provided the leadership in the final third of the field in the 20 minutes Cork outscored Donegal 0-7 to zip.

Kerrigan’s passes directly set up four points, and he was fouled for a free. With so many of Cork’s main men missing up front, he was a match-winner.

Perhaps the most satisfying element of the display was the contribution of the less established players. Shorten has only made a couple of fleeting cameos previously, but excelled once he settled after replacing O’Neill (indeed Cork were shellshocked until the break after he was carried off, failing to hit a point). Barry O’Driscoll landed one super point, assisted another, and living off scraps, impressed to a degree he hasn’t to date.

Andrew O’Sullivan was more comfortable as a wing-forward than he had been in midfield in previous league ties, handling a world of ball and displaying real composure, which hasn’t always been his trademark with Castletownbere and Beara.

Tomás Clancy from Fermoy doesn’t have the underage pedigree of some panellists, making his name with UCC, but is a dynamic runner from wing-back and held his own physically.
Counihan and his selectors have no choice but to persist with Cadogan and Shields in the last line of defence it seems – Cork U21 teams simply haven’t produced top-class corner-backs lately. Breaking up the Canty-O’Leary-Kissane axis at half-back and dropping half-forwards deep at least gives the dynamic duo license to make bursts upfield.

Canty is excelling as a holding midfielder, facilitating Walsh’s direct running, even if Rory Kavanagh spoiled the Kanturk man by and large on Saturday. Kissane and O’Leary played well but you could see Clancy and Damien Cahalane starting come summer, with one of the veterans kept as an impact sub.

Cork have been training like dogs – or Donegal at least – since December, while reshaping their game-plan on the training ground, and only now their football is catching up. Another win should see them into the league play-offs, and if it comes in Tralee next Sunday there’s the bonus of propelling Kerry towards Division Two.

The most important development of the week though, will be the outcome of the scan on Colm O’Neill’s knee.

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IT WAS the sort of evening in Páirc Uí Rinn that felt meaningful, even if we’ll have to wait until August or September to figure out exactly what we learnt.
Cork beating Donegal last Saturday wasn’t entirely about the result but the context and the little details of the win made it a little more important than two league points.
There was a spell either side of half-time where Cork, shattered by Colm O’Neill’s absence, appeared unsure as to how they could get enough scores to win a game against the All-Ireland champions without their go-to guy, the crowd were flat and it could have fizzled out in a season damaging sort of way.
That they found a way to win in the circumstances and showed an ability to think around the problems on the field was, at the very least, encouraging and potentially points the way forward.
There was plenty to like about Cork’s performance.

The way Eoin Cadogan tied up Michael Murphy, stopped him winning any of the long balls pumped towards goal put down a marker for later in the year (and showcased why Cadogan’s probably the best defender in the country at stopping a forward winning this type of ball clean – number two, by the way, is Michael Shields).
The way Liam Shorten put his hand up as a scoring option once a game becomes open and Andrew O’Sullivan got himself involved constantly from half-forward. Paudie Kissane reminding everyone that he can bring two points a game to the table from half-back.
Ken O’Halloran influencing the game with two important saves. That Cork were able to find holes in Donegal’s defence through quick ball movement, switching of the point of attack and generally being more decisive in that second period was pleasing – there was far too much poor decision making and non-decision making in that first half again.
That Donegal were made to look a little unsure themselves when chasing the game late on was a nice bonus.
The patience of Aidan Walsh to recognise and eventually take his opportunity to influence the game in an attacking sense – along with the clinical finishing to nail his one chance all day – was impressive.
As an aside, it was interesting just how much Donegal targeted Walsh. It was about 15 minutes into the game before I realised I hadn’t seen the Cork midfielder on the ball driving forward so kept an eye on him next time Cork attacked.
Donegal tend to be defend quite zonally to fill space but Rory Kavanagh basically sacrificed himself to attach to Walsh each time the Kanturk man got inside the Donegal half, stopped his runs, got very, very tight and manmarked him for the full game.
Twice Jim McGuinness actually shouted to Kavanagh just to remind him of duty if he’d slackened a small bit, so Donegal saw stopping Walsh as one big step in stopping Cork.
It might be a trend Cork and Walsh will have to think around this summer as teams try and halt him doing damage; you can’t imagine say,
Kieran McGeeney, letting Walsh bomb down the centre at will like in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final. Walsh got away from Kavanagh due to a slight slip, saw his chance and took advantage brilliantly, but if it crops up again, there needs to be a solution that gets Aidan Walsh on the ball as much as possible.
Anyway, tactically was where the game, or Cork’s approach specifically, was really interesting: Cork have committed to a defensive structure based on getting 12 bodies into the space in front of their goal and playing on the counter attack from there.
At one point in the second half, Cork gave away a free just inside the Donegal half and you saw the entire half-forward line – Goold, Collins, O’Sullivan — turn and jog back inside their 45 without looking at a man or the ball. The most important link in this system right now is Mark Collins.
The Castlehaven forward plays a kind of Mark McHugh for Donegal role, sitting in front of his defence to fill space but most effectively offering a spare man to move the ball out accurately by hand or foot once it’s recovered, taking responsibility for taking frees from defensive areas, with the ability to be a deep-lying playmaker really and set the tempo for how Cork use possession around the central area.
It’s a clever move as it gets a good ball-player involved in the game, takes him away from the heat of fighting for possession up front against a marker and Collins should have the skill set to do the necessary. McHugh probably brings more explosiveness to the position but Collins has more control (which seems about right, given the identity of the two teams) and has the ability to attack and score effectively as well.
I remember Billy Morgan trying Conor McCarthy in a similar role back around 2006/2007 but it didn’t really stick for that long. It’ll be interesting to note how Cork evolve this sweeper system and what form it’s taking by summer (Paddy Kelly could also be an option if they were looking at mixing things up).
There are plenty of bits and pieces to iron out both tactically and with personnel. Quite how Paddy Kelly and Ciarán Sheehan especially can be accommodated and best used in this system will be an interesting developmental step.
There still needs to be a kicking option – some of the time at least — to hit in the half-forward line when Cork break with the ball. Cork still need to be more dynamic and need players breaking forward to commit to running into space at speed to open defences up most effectively. Teams will prepare for Mark Collins’ role and try to counter it as the season goes on.
Two things jump out from Colm O’Neill’s injury (and you could almost feel the stadium deflate when he went down clutching that knee):
1) No matter what way it’s put or argued or ignored, Cork’s All-Ireland chances have been cut by a reasonable amount, same as Donegal’s without McFadden/Murphy or Dublin’s without Brogan,
2) The team can take up the collective scoring slack to a degree but somebody’s going to have to become the forward who’ll get scores like 1-4 or 0-6 in the big games of summer.
Let’s remember that Donegal actually missed a fair bit themselves last weekend and that they’ll be a different animal if they get to Croke Park in August/September.
For now though Cork have a plan to be working on and that on the
basis of the last two games, appears to be working.

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