Alan Duff, Chairperson Cork Credit Unions with Marc Sheehan, Chair Cork GAA and club players Callum Barrett-Carrigaline, Mark Collins-Castlehaven, Dan Peet-Clonakilty, John Kerins-Barrs, Brian Crowley-Bandon, Sean O’Donovan-Newcestown and TJ Brosnan-Newmarket, at the launch of the Cork Credit Unions Football League in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Photo: Gerard McCarthy

Hurlers in touching distance of league semi-final

A relatively quiet weekend coming up with the main focus on the Cork v Galway game in hurling, while the Ladies Footballers and under 20 footballers are also in action.

It is also the first weekend of the Credit Union County Leagues and for the first time in two years clubs will welcome a full programme of games ahead of the championships in the latter part of the year.

Allianz NHL Division 1

Cork v Galway at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday at 7pm

It’s the best possible start to the season for Cork with 3 wins from their 3 games in the Allianz National Hurling League and by far the best one came last Sunday in the Gaelic Grounds.

Having lost 3 times to Limerick last year it was important for the group to end that sequence and they did it in style. Of course that it was a league game in February and it will be so different when the sides meet in the championship on 17 April.

The manner of the win was equally impressive, 14 points up at half-time and eventually win by 9, but just as significant was the physical nature of Cork’s performance they matched and out muscled Limerick for long periods, something they have not done in recent meetings.

That’s the pluses, now for the negatives and there are always some: lost the second half on the scoreboard, only scored 1 point in the last twenty minutes and hit 13 wides.

These points were referenced by Kieran Kingston after the game. “Delighted with the win and the performance especially in the first half, but again we faded in the 2nd half and that is something we will look at in training.”

Kieran was also conscious it was an early season league game, “but it’s nice to win and keep us in control of our own destiny in the competition”.

As for Galway, “we will go back and look at today’s game and when we train on Tuesday, only then will we focus on Galway. That has been our approach all season, and we won’t change. It’s such a condensed schedule that you can only take it game by game.”

In the aftermath of the game many were quick to write off Limerick, that in my view would be foolish. They will be a different side come April, but maybe the depth that we all felt they had is not as good as we thought, but it will make for an interesting few weeks.

John Kiely admitted they were well beaten: “Cork were much better than us, their movement all over the field was to much for us, we were played off the park.”

So now it’s Henry Shefflin’s Galway that are next up for Cork and with the Tribesmen losing to Wexford at home last Sunday, a win for Cork and they will be into the semi-final irrespective of the result of the last game which is away to Wexford.

That won’t trouble Cork for now as Kieran has said the attention will be on Saturday night and there will be changes, some enforced and maybe others by design and an opportunity to test the panel in what is sure to be a testing game.

The defence might be altered as Niall O’Leary is considered doubtful having picked up a knock or two on Sunday, which might mean a recall for Robert Downey or Damien Cahalane.

Mark Coleman and Ciaran Joyce were excellent against Limerick while the amount of ball Ger Mellerick played was exceptional. Tim O’Mahoney put in an aggressive 70 plus minutes.

Darragh Fitzgibbon is certainly back to his best and that’s a huge plus in the middle of the park.

The attack flourished particularly in the first half especially Patrick Horgan his vision created the 2 goals and a few points while his free taking was up to his usual standard.

Shane Kingston took his goals with aplomb, but of course the red-card rules him out of this game.

There are lot of options for his replacement; Conor Cahalane, Jack O’Connor, Seamus Harnedy and Alan Connolly were all introduced with Robbie O’Flynn, Mark Keane, Shane Barrett and Conor Lehane making important contributions.

Shefflin was very disappointed after the loss to Wexford, even more so when it happened in Salthill, a venue where they are always hard to beat. “It was very poor, we never got going, it’s not the level we expect but the lads know that and we will work on improving that during the week.”

Galway were without Darren Morrissey and Brian Concannon who are long term injury concerns, while they could have Conor Whelan back for Saturday.

One poor display does not make Galway a bad team and there is a lot of quality in the team and they will arrive in the Páirc annoyed and determined to show what a good side they really are.

Conor Cooney was their man last weekend and his influence will need to be curbed, while Daithi Burke, Padraic Mannion, Jack Grealish, Eanna Burke and Cathal Mannion will look to improve as they bid to get back to winning ways, but a return of 0-7 from play is another area they need to address.

In the corresponding game last year, also in Páirc Ui Chaoimh, Cork were in strong position for long periods but eventually ended up losing and as it turned out it cost them a place in the league final, which would have doubled up with All-Ireland semi-final win over Kilkenny.

Cork’s record in the league in recent years has not been good; a win on Saturday which I expect them to get will at the very least give them a semi-final place and an extra competitive game ahead of the championship.

The game is live on C103.

LIDL Ladies Football National League

Cork v Waterford on Sunday at MTU at 2pm

For the first time in a long number of years Cork will not feature at the business end of the league, losses to Meath and Dublin means this game is effectively a dead rubber in terms of qualification but the losers here will have to play a relegation play-off to secure their Division 1 status - now that is something that has not been said about Cork recently.

It’s been a tough start for new boss Shane Roynane but no doubt he and the squad will work hard and rectify the problems ahead of the championship.

The group was always going to be difficult especially with the Mourneabbey players not selected owing to a long club campaign.

They were unlucky to lose in Navan to Meath the first day, but were well off the pace against Dublin and that is surely a concern.

There is still a lot of very good players in the panel and that should be good enough for them to get the win over a Waterford side that they have had the better of over the years.

Football

The under 20 side will play their 2nd game in the John Kerins Cup when they travel to Tuam on Saturday to play Galway who like Cork have already been defeated by Kerry.

This competition will be ideal preparation for the upcoming Munster Championship and Manager Bobby O’Dwyer gets an opportunity to assess the players in a competitive outing, even more so now that the various third

level competitions are over, freeing up more players who were not considered for the Kerry

game.

It’s been a tough few weeks for the seniors and despite racking up a big score against Galway, they are now in a real battle to stay in Division 2.

Injuries have not helped with Sean Powter now out long-term and Sean Meehan also likely to miss the next game injured but a few players like Brian Hartnett, Brian Hurely and Cathal O’Mahoney could all return for must-win game with Down on Sunday week.

This weekend the selectors will probably keep their eyes on the various county league games across all divisions to see if any players can impress enough to force their way into the squad. Of course players currently on the panel are excluded from these games unless the management allow fringe members play to get some game time, especially any player returning from injury. Best of luck to all clubs as they finally get to play a full season.

Finally sincere sympathy to the family of Donal O’Leary who has sadly passed away, Donal was a most diligent and obliging officer of Rebel Og and his presence at games at venues throughout the county will be missed.