Can Cork land league title?
The first piece of major silverware is up for grabs on Saturday night as Cork lock horns with Waterford in the Allianz National Hurling League Final, while in the D2 Littlewood’s Camogie Semi-Final, it’s Cork v Antrim.
Allianz NHL Final
Cork v Kerry in Thurles on Saturday at 7.15pm
It’s fair to say the two most consistent teams in the league will contest Saturday’s final. They both lost once, but they had already qualified for the semi-finals and this was reflected in their respective team selections for games against Wexford and Kilkenny.
In winning their semi-finals, they showed why they deserve to be contesting the final.
Waterford demolished Wexford, the only blot being the sending off of Austin Gleeson which they are not appealing thus ruling him out of the final.
This game was effectively over by half-time as Liam Cahill’s men were ahead by 3 goals with Gleeson playing a vital role, getting 2 great goals.
There’s strength in depth also in the panel and on that basis they will probably start as favourites on Saturday. Tadgh De Burca’s return is a huge boost, Conor Gleeson is an excellent defender as are Iarlaith Daly and Jack Fagan.
Darragh Lyons in midfield will have a new partner now with Gleeson out, and he will be a loss.
The attack features quality in Dessie Hutchinson, Patrick Curran, Coin Dunford and Mikey Kiely.
Waterford had an excellent run in last year’s championship, beating Tipperary and Galway en route to the semi-final, where they came unstuck against Limerick, coming as it did on their fourth week in a row playing championship hurling.
In fact there are many who felt that Waterford could very well be the team that could end Limerick’s reign. Their game plan and work rate last Sunday was impressive and they will be very hard to beat.
In a different way, Cork were impressive in the manner in which they beat Kilkenny last Saturday night and manager Kieran Kingston was delighted afterwards.
“Of course we are thrilled to be in the final, we took it game by game in this league and we will do the same for the final.”
Kieran did confirm that full-back Daire O’Leary did get injured in the first half and was subsequently withdrawn at half-time.
The manager was also pleased at the response from the players: “It was great, we started very slowly, fell six points behind, got back into it and then conceded a second goal, but the lads never panicked and while behind at half-time, we were happy enough.”
It was a similar story in the second half with Kilkenny ahead for most of the game and then a strong finish by Cork. Darragh Fitzgibbon was named player of the match and scored the winning goal. “Yes again we kept playing and got over the line, I said that this would be a close match and like last year’s All-Ireland semi-final, there’s very little between the sides. Kilkenny are a class side and tonight was played at championship pace and that can only be good for the team.”
The depth of the squad also pleased the manager. “We got a lot of players valuable game time and that’s important.”
“The reality is we haven’t won the league in a long time, 1998 to be exact, so this will be ideal preparation for the championship which is coming on shortly.”
He described the atmosphere as “brilliant” and added “because of the scheduling for the championship with only 1 home game, this was a real bonus tonight and to see the crowd getting behind the team when we really needed them was brilliant.”
Of course there were a few issues - a slow start and for the second game in a row the full-back line was under pressure; to their credit they as a unit improved as the game aged.
Sean O’Donoghue might return for the final and if injury rules Daire O’Leary out, it will be interesting to see who gets the number 3 jersey.
Tim O’Mahoney’s introduction added pace and power to the half-back line; he clipped over a great point and his distribution was excellent while Robert Downey put in a solid 70 minutes, and what about Ciaran Joyce - another top class display.
Darragh Fitzgibbon’s form has been the big plus this campaign - he is now hitting the form he produced when he first broke into the team.
In attack Alan Connolly was the standout player, while after a slow first half Robbie O’Flynn was excellent in the second, and what about Conor Lehane another quality display?
When you add in the ever reliable Patrick Horgan along with Shane Kingston, Shane Barrett, Jack O’Connor, Seamus Harnedy and Conor Cahalane, the manager and his backroom team have a lot of options available to them.
It has the makings of a cracking contest, but how will the respective managements approach it with championship on 17 April? It’s a final so both will want to win it.
Waterford’s form is probably that bit better and they have had the measure of Cork in recent outings something Kieran Kingston’s men will be keen to rectify. With a fully committed 70 minutes they are well capable of doing just that, anything less and it’s the Desie’s title.
Expect a cracker and it’s live on C103.
Big win for footballers
O’Connor Park in Tullamore has in the past proved to be a happy hunting ground for Cork teams and so it proved again on Sunday as the footballers secured their division 2 status for next year with a thrilling 2 point win that condemned Offaly to D3.
It also ensures that Cork, irrespective of the outcome of the clash with Kerry, will also avoid the Tailteann Cup.
It was a very good performance considering what was at stake with 1-16 out of 1-21 from play with Steven Sherlock unerring from play and placed balls, continuing his excellent form of the county championship with the ‘Barrs.
Injuries have not helped but hopefully with a good run into the Kerry game, a number of players will return, increasing the options for the selectors especially in defence.
Of course the venue for this clash is now an issue with Páirc Uí Chaoimh unavailable. It was switched to Páirc Uí Rinn, but now there are moves by the Munster Council to take the game to Killarney.
Cork are opposing this move on the basis that the home and away arrangement should remain in place.
The Cork management team have written a well crafted and strongly worded letter outlining their position to the Executive of the Cork County Board.
In it they point out that a fixture made months ago should not be changed 6 weeks before the game is due to be played. Also if not in Páirc Uí Rinn, then it should go to a neutral venue, like Cork and Clare in hurling and then revert to home and away next time they meet.
Capacity in Páirc Uí Rinn is understood to be the issue, yet Cork must and will play Waterford in Walsh Park in hurling. That has the potential to draw around 25,000 yet that venue is nowhere near that number, and is that venue any better than Páirc Uí Rinn? In my opinion it is not.
What is the point in entering into arrangements with counties, if the council officers can overturn them? The word is Killarney will get the nod, when the decision is made tonight (Thursday) after that it’s up to Cork as to what to do next.
Remember a few years ago the call was Newbridge or nowhere is it time for Páirc Uí Rinn or nowhere?
Good to hear that manager Keith Ricken is improving and will be back on the field in the coming weeks, no doubt the result from Tullamore will have helped and we wish him the best in his anticipated return.
Camogie
There were a couple of great results last Saturday - congrats to the minors on winning a thrilling All-Ireland title, once again showing great resolve to defeat Galway and in the process capture the county’s third title at this grade.
Earlier the D2 side qualified for the league semi-final with a good win over Galway (again). They now play Antrim on Sunday, time and venue to be confirmed. The league finals form part of a double-header in Croke Park on Saturday week, with Cork already in the D1 Final v Galway (yet again) it would be nice to see this side join them.
They have improved with every outing defensively they have been excellent with Sarah Ahern, Niamh O’Leary and Kelly Falvey stand out players, while Finola Neville, Rachel O’Shea and Joanne Casey have the capacity to guide them into the final.
The championship draws were also confirmed. In Senior, Cork are in Group 1 with Tipperary, Waterford, Care, Dublin and Wexford, while in the Intermediate, in Group 2, it’s Cork, Kilkenny, Meath, Kildare, Derry, Kildare and Wexford.
In both championships the top team in each group go to semi-final with second and third advancing to the quarter-finals.
The first round games are on the weekend of 21/22 May and based on league form, Cork should make the knock-out phase of both championships.
Finally on Tuesday next in Austin Stack Park Tralee, Cork begin the defence of their Munster and All-Ireland Minor hurling titles with a first game in the round-robin phase of the championship with what should be an expected win over Kerry. 7pm start and Limerick are the other team in the group.