Malachy Clerkin: Cork's beautiful miracle has reached an excruciating point
Cork
hurlers will not win the
All-Ireland
. Just saying, like.
This is not meant as an insult, nor even just to tweak the proud Cork noses as they head for Croke Park this weekend. It just seems like a good time to point out that there is a world in which 2025 ends in the same way as every one of the past 20 seasons have. That is to say, with somebody other than a Cork captain singing and bucklepping on the steps of the Hogan Stand.
We are at the point of peak Cork giddiness. Everyone – or at any rate, everyone outside the
Dublin
dressingroom – assumes that this weekend is a straightforward tick of a box. Cork didn't come this far to lose to Dublin, for the love of Ring. Check the Irish Rail website – the Cork-Heuston trains on All-Ireland final day are already sold out.
So now, right now, this is when all is for the best in this best of all possible Cork worlds. They're odds-on favourites for the All-Ireland heading into the last four. This has to be a unique occurrence for a team looking to end a famine, or very close to it.
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It can't have happened too many times before that a county who hasn't lifted Liam MacCarthy in such a long time are odds-on shots before they've even played the All-Ireland semi-final. Who would even be the candidates for a list like that?
Limerick in 1994? Clare in '95? No way. Maybe, at a push, Limerick in '96. They had Antrim in the semi-final and would have felt they had little to fear from Galway and Wexford on the other side of the draw. They were probably favourites before the semi-finals but they wouldn't have been 4-5 shots, surely. A bookie would do slim business at that price.
So we're in new territory here. And yet, it somehow feels like old territory too. Cork,
Tipperary
and
Kilkenny
filling three of the four spots in the All-Ireland semi-finals, the blue bloods reasserting their command over the old game. Stick your revolution, lads. The empire is striking back.
Now, not to jinx it or anything, but Cork have never won Liam MacCarthy when all three have still been involved at this point. This is the sixth time it's happened, since you ask. Kilkenny have won four of the other five, Tipp did it in 2010. In fact, Cork have only once made it to the final in these circumstances.
Joe Canning: Most people think it's Cork's All-Ireland to lose and that suits Kilkenny just fine
— Irish Times Sport (@IrishTimesSport)
That's why this is such a golden moment for all the Rebels pouring into the capital this weekend, their spirits high and their voices higher. Rightly or wrongly, there are no nerves to deal with here. If Dublin turn them over, it will be an immediate apocalypse, a sudden and brutal cardiac shock. But it's the kind of thing they can't feel worried about until they're stuck in the middle of it.
If they win through to the final, that's when the nerves will start to infest and to spread. Cork hurling supporters are bullish but they are not bulletproof. They will feel they're better than Tipp and better than Kilkenny too but they won't be able to truly trust it. A fortnight is a long time to think about all the ways you can crash and burn, especially when you've crashed and burned in the past four finals you've been to.
But that's a worry for Monday and beyond. In the here and now, we get to observe the Cork hurling albatross with its wings at full span. Watch it swoop upon Dublin city, haughty and noble and unstoppable, picking off the bits it fancies as it goes. Eating the best food the capital has to offer, drinking its porter, still full sure that the English Market and the Hi-B are superior.
And quite right too. The gathering speed of the Cork hurling bandwagon has been one of the beautiful miracles of Irish sport over the past decade or so. Nobody had ever sold out an All-Ireland hurling semi-final until last year and now they're about to do it again. And not against Limerick or Clare or Wexford or any of the other mad-bastard support bases. Against Dublin, who didn't even fill Parnell Park for their Leinster matches.
This will be Cork's eighth championship sell-out in a row. For any GAA team to do that is a wild achievement at a time when ticket prices have never been as high and when the cost of living is through the roof. For Cork to do it while not even winning an All-Ireland (yet?) is bananas.
Yes, fine, Cork people love their hurling. But they didn't just start loving it in the past couple of years. It's easy to forget that they didn't even make it out of Munster in 2023. This is the perfect storm of a likable team, a manager of obvious decency and humanity, a starving fan base, a much-dumped-upon stadium and a county board that is finally looking outward after decades of insularity.
It has grown organically, gradually, Corkily. And now it's gathering speed. They're hurtling through that twilight zone where people think of them as the best team in the country without them actually having done the thing yet. Most presume they will. But they might not.
It's a precarious, delicious, excruciating position to be in. You'd feel for the hoors, if you didn't know better.
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The Irish Sun
39 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
‘Are you doing enough?' – Cork GAA boss Pat Ryan passes on valuable family advice ahead of All-Ireland semi vs Dublin
WHEN Pat Ryan tried to make sense of his omission from the Cork team, he was served with a piece of frank feedback that had to be taken on the chin. Under the management of Jimmy Barry-Murphy, the Rebels were crowned All-Ireland champions in 1999 with a side that boasted star names such as Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, Joe Deane, Ben O'Connor, Brian Corcoran and Diarmuid O'Sullivan. Advertisement 3 Pat Ryan passed on his dad's advice to his own Cork players Credit: Ray McManus/Sportsfile 3 Ryan was part of Jimmy Barry Murphy's Cork team that won Liam MacCarthy in 1999 Credit: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile 3 Cork are looking to end a 20-year wait for an All-Ireland title Credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile Ryan appeared as a 52nd-minute sub in that year's Munster final victory over Clare. But he wanted more. And when answers were sought, his father advised him to look within. It is a suggestion now being imparted to Ryan's players as he aims to emulate Barry-Murphy by bringing the Liam MacCathy Cup back to Leeside as a bainisteoir. Ryan explained: 'I was a fella when I was an inter-county player who was in and out of the team, but my father always gave me great advice and he said, 'Are you doing enough?' Advertisement Read More on GAA 'I'd say I thought I was doing enough and he'd always say, 'Seán Óg is doing enough, Brian Corcoran is doing enough'. 'They were giving him no choice and that's what you're trying to say to the players — give us no choice.' Particularly amid the longest All-Ireland drought in the county's history , dealing with pressure and expectation goes with the territory while managing But the hardest part of the gig? Telling players that they have been good — but not good enough. Advertisement Most read in GAA Hurling Ryan has seen both sides of such situations. He said: 'Sometimes fellas are playing really well in training and they're asking questions, 'I'm going really well, what more can I do?' 'You're saying, 'Yeah, keep doing what you're doing', but unfortunately there might be somebody just ahead of them. You're trying to be as honest and as truthful as you can without being false.' Palestine GAA players watch camogie match on laptop It is a reflection of Cork's strength in depth that even with Cormac O'Brien and Séamus Harnedy sidelined for today's All-Ireland semi-final against Ryan continued: 'We call out the team and I'm always available then to meet players the next day or have a chat. I leave them have a think . . . I don't really like doing it on the day because it's an emotional side of things. Advertisement 'You talk to fellas the next day or meet for 'There are people wanting to go to matches and we want people to go to matches. We want people reading stories. You're all in the media game and you want fellas looking at podcasts, going after content about hurling." From solving selection dilemmas to keeping his players focused on the bid to bring Cork a first Yet with his team favoured by the bookies to land the big one in 15 days' time, he is adamant that they have not been affected by the outside noise attempting to penetrate the dressing-room walls. Cork were installed as favourites after winning a first National League title in 27 years, only for Advertisement On the narrative that suggested his side had one hand on the Liam MacCarthy, Ryan said: 'A lot of it was stupid after the league because it was the league. Not everybody takes the league seriously. 'The comments about us doing this and that, I just thought some of it was disingenuous because, let's be honest, I don't think anyone really believed that we were favourites when you have 'I think there was a bit of maybe false prophets from some certain people. It was at the time but it kind of crashed when we went up to Limerick the first day. That kind of stopped all of that. 'We didn't need that game to bring us back down to Earth but I thought it just brought everyone else back down to Earth, that we're still a work in progress. Advertisement 'Look, we know where we are. We're a very, very good team when we're on it. 'When we're not on it, we're a very, very poor team.' HYPE TRAIN Despite fears among some Cork supporters about the prospect of the hype train derailing their All-Ireland aspirations, Ryan has remained true to his principles. The Sarsfields man has been an open book throughout his tenure. Advertisement While his opposite number today Niall Ó Ceallacháin opted not to engage with the media, closing ranks as a means of fortification was a temptation Ryan resisted. Speaking at a press briefing ahead of the semi-final, he said: 'People talk about hype and there are different things about hype. 'There are people wanting to go to matches and we want people to go to matches. We want people reading stories. You're all in the media game and you want fellas looking at podcasts , going after content about hurling. 'You want them talking about hurling, you want the kids talking about hurling, of course you do. Advertisement 'What you don't want is kind of, I suppose, false analysis that's trying to build up a team so they can be knocked back down. I felt that was happening. 'And to be honest, I felt it was happening by Cork people more than outside people. That was one of the things that annoyed me. But that Limerick game solved that fairly quickly.' There is no lack of irony in Cork's odds being shortened because of a result achieved by the team aiming to scupper their All-Ireland hopes this evening at On Advertisement 'When you go a man down, it's very easy to throw your hat at it and kind of give up when you're up against a team as formidable as Limerick. 'That showed great unity within their group. I think that's the first thing you're looking for as any manager. Have we got unity in the group? Have we got spirit in the group? 'They certainly have that and that's the challenge for our guys on Saturday. Can we match that unity and match that spirit?' RING RUST Dublin have played twice since Cork's last competitive outing. For Ryan, the hope is that no cobwebs have gathered during the four-week break since the Munster final. Advertisement He added: 'We feel we've handled it well enough. 'The proof will be on Saturday. But it's like everything — if you win, you were rested, if you lose, you weren't match-ready. 'But we've played loads of matches all year and we've had loads of big games with big crowds. 'In fairness to the Cork public, all the crowds we're playing in front of now are big crowds so lads are looking forward to going to Croke Park with a huge Cork crowd again.' Advertisement
The 42
42 minutes ago
- The 42
Pat Ryan: 'You're just trying to be as honest as you can. It's the hardest part of the job'
ON ALL-IRELAND quarter-final day, as the hurling landscape shifted and shook for the year ahead, Pat Ryan sat at home absorbing the action on TV. The consensus beforehand was for a Limerick victory, but the shock Dublin produced has set Cork's season off on a diffferent course. 'I was at home, I watched both of them live. From our point of view, we have people who go to different games. Sometimes being able to watch it from behind the goal on video, you get a good handle on what you're watching. 'If you haven't seen a team play much, you'd be conscious that you want to go and see their players, but we'd be so familiar with lots of the teams now. We played Dublin last year in the championship, we've obviously seen Dublin live this year as well so we're in a good space that way. We had people in both areas as well, people that we trust. 'Look, we were very aware that it could be Dublin. Obviously the best estimate was that Limerick, but Dublin performed fantastically on the day. It's a huge challenge for us.' Ryan has witnessed Dublin hurling brilliance in full flow in Croke Park already this year. 'When Sars played in the club final, I know that's a different thing, but we saw the physicality of Na Fianna, how well they were trained, how well they were coached. 'I remember turning around to my brother at the time and saying, 'Jesus, we're in for a big contest here' when we looked at them walking around in the parade. 'They're always really, really good athletes. But they've added a good string to their bow and Niall has them playing a great brand of hurling. think the key about the Limerick game to them was that they showed unbelievable character and spirit. When you go a man down, it's very easy to throw your hat at it. That showed great unity within their group. 'I think that's the first thing you're looking for as any manager. Have we got unity in the group? Have we got spirit in the group? They certainly have that.' Cork enter the last four stage as favourites to advance to the final and emerge victorious outright when the championship draws to a close. The clamour around them has grown during a year of fluctuating fortunes, from the highs of league and Munster silverware, to the anxiety of their opening draw in Ennis, and the low when they crashed to defeat against Limerick in May. 'Some of the comments about us doing this and that, I just thought some of it was disingenuous,' says Ryan. Advertisement 'I don't think anyone really believed that we were favourites when you have Limerick and what team they are. So I don't think that was realistic. I think there was a bit of maybe false prophets from some certain people. It kind of crashed when we went up to Limerick the first day. So that kind of stopped all that. So, look, we know where we are. We're a very, very good team when we're on it. And when we're not on it, we're a very, very poor team. 'People talk about hype and there's different things about hype. You want fellas going after content about hurling. You want them talking about hurling. You want the kids talking about hurling. Of course you do. 'What you don't want is false analysis. that's trying to build up a team so they can be knocked back down. And I felt that was happening and to be honest, by Cork people more than outside people. 'That was one of the things that annoyed me.' Settling on a starting side is a task that Ryan continues to find demanding as he is forced to sideline some players. 'It is tough. One thing that I've always done in my management team is that I don't really go around and tell fellas they're not playing or that before teams are called out because I tell one fella he's not playing and I don't bother telling another fella because he's number 37 on the panel. 'What we do is we call out the team and I'm always available then to meet players the next day or have a chat. 'I leave them have a think about – I don't really like doing it on the day because it's an emotional side of things – talk to fellas the next day or meet for coffee or over the phone, what they need to do, how they can get back into the team. 'Some fellas ring you, some fellas don't, and sometimes the same fellas always ring you! 'You're just trying to be as honest as you can. It's the hardest part of the job. I was a fella when I was an inter-county player I was in and out of the team but my father always gave me great advice and he said, 'Are you doing enough?' 'I'd say I thought I was doing enough and he'd always say, 'Well, Seán Óg's doing enough, Brian Corcoran's doing enough, they're giving him no choice.' 'That's what you're trying to say to the players – give us no choice. 'One of my gripes with the GAA. We've 30-man panels, everyone needs 30 at training. Everybody's doing 15v15s, like it should be 30 on the panel. 'Like personally, that's my opinion. I think it's off the wall, 26, I don't know where 26 even comes from.' When a substitute comes off the bench in a dazzling fashion like Conor Lehane in the Munster final, Ryan is enthused. 'Fellas pick up injuries and they get behind. The problem is then that fellas are ahead of you on the depth chart, if you want to use an NFL theory. But the fella who's ahead of you is playing well and you're playing brilliant. 'You need to get an opportunity. Conor got an opportunity that day and he took it. He was brilliant. When we went around to do the penalties, Ducky (Donal O'Rourke) and himself had a quick chat and Ducky was adamant that fellas who take them for their club should take them and free takers. 'We asked Conor, yeah, Shane Kingston, yeah, Alan Connolly, yeah, not a bother and they all did it. But it was great for him to come back and he deserved it because Conor's a brilliant fella. Conor's probably the lowest percentage of fat on our panel. That's how dedicated he is. 'Just after getting married (last year), it would have been easy for Conor to kind of say, I didn't get any much of a run last year, I didn't come on to the All-Ireland final, will I step away? 'But that wasn't his attitude. What can I do to get back into it? I'm getting married, how can we fit this around it? 'Unfortunately, then got injured out here against Limerick (in the league). Did his shoulder that time, but he's shooting out the lights inside in training at the moment.' With all the preparatory work finished, match days like this All-Ireland semi-final are the moments that Ryan savours. 'Matches are the easiest thing. I find once you call out the team, and we head away here from Wednesday, I find that to Saturday the most enjoyable thing. 'That's what you're doing it for. To watch the team perform. Whether the result comes after that, that's fair enough. But that's where I get my pride in it. 'That the team are going to represent the jersey properly. That's my job, to make sure they're doing that. Once you get injuries out of the way, and you pick the team and the fellas are in good form going up there, I think that's the most enjoyable thing. 'There's always pressure to perform. But that pressure is from ourselves, making sure we're doing right by the players.' *****
The 42
42 minutes ago
- The 42
'We won't be sitting back admiring them' - Clare plotting Déise downfall to reach semi-finals
THERE MAY BE a perception that Waterford have the advantage of more familiarity with Croke Park than Clare, ahead of today's Glen Dimplex All-Ireland quarter-final (2.30pm, live on RTÉ 2), but enough of the Banner crew have played at the Broadway of Gaelic games for it not to be an issue. Sinéad O'Keeffe, Niamh Mulqueen, Caoimhe Cahill, Jennifer Daly, Ellen Casey, Cliodhna Queally and Grace Carmody were among those to be involved when the juniors won the All-Ireland just two years ago. Last December, Truagh Clonlara were the first Clare team to reach an All-Ireland senior club final and while Sarsfields were too strong, it was an invaluable experience for Áine O'Loughlin, Róisín Begley and Michelle Powell in the context of today's outing. Clare Hehir's memories are from further back. Thirteen years ago. 'Myself and Andrea O'Keefe would have played in a Féile final there when we were 14,' Hehir reveals. 'We played De La Salle of Waterford. So it's funny to be meeting them again.' She doesn't recall a whole lot from it, but remembers a little redhead named Beth Carton, who she is likely to encounter at close quarters again at HQ later on today. Brianna O'Regan would probably have been involved too. Funny indeed, the way the big wheel keeps on turnin'. Claire Hehir receiving a Player of the Match award after Clare's championship clash with Wexford. Leah Scholes / INPHO Leah Scholes / INPHO / INPHO While there isn't the big unknown people might think, there remains an acknowledgement of what it means to play in the country's premier stadium, with all its history and tradition. And to do so on TV, as part of a double-header with an All-Ireland hurling semi-final between Cork and Dublin, even if it means tickets are scarce down the south west. Advertisement And the importance of managing that. 'It's not like no one has ever kind of touched the grass there before and that's a help. At the end of the day, it's the same as any other field in terms of dimensions, but it does hold that special place. So it's just about not letting the occasion get to you, as much as you do want to enjoy it as well, because not everyone gets to play there. You definitely want to enjoy it.' The Déise are favourites, regulars in the knockout stages now for a number of years, while John Carmody started a major rebuild in Clare last season that involved introducing almost a full panel of youngsters. Hehir is the longest serving member of the squad along with O'Loughlin she reckons, with a decade served at senior level in the saffron and blue having been introduced to the squad in 2015. Clare's last quarter-final, against Cork in 2020, took place at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Apart from Hehir and O'Loughlin, Ciara Grogan is the only other survivor from the 20 that got on the pitch during that game in today's squad. Having been relegated from Division 1A of the Very League last year – when Hehir was absent after taking a year out to go travelling – Clare showed the benefit of that steep learning curve and the return of their defensive bedrock by reaching this year's 1B final, which they lost to Antrim. Getting to the last six of the Championship is another indication of their gradual improvement. 'The League was good, a lot of girls got a lot of game time. You're facing into competitive matches every week, which is good. And you can see the experience from last year. Two championship wins was great. You saw a lot of girls stepping up to the plate who would be leaders on the team this year. 'I think there was a lot of learnings from the League final. There would have been a lot of us who wouldn't make finals too often with Clare camogie. And I think maybe that occasion might have got to us, or we didn't turn up on the day. So that's something that we definitely want to rectify and we want to put in a good performance.' The 27-year-old is a bit envious of the neophytes. 'You look back on your first years on the panel, you're kind of so young – I don't know was it naïve – but you're just taking it game by game. But when you're playing a few years, you nearly think about it too much! Sometimes you'd want to go back to those days where you're playing for the fun of it. 'So you try and remind yourself that while you're there to play and to win, you want to enjoy it too. And we're trying to do that now, because you're not going to be there forever.' Watching the Inagh-Kilnamona stalwart play, you don't get the impression that she is short on joie de vivre. She may be full-back more often than not, tasked with shackling the opposition sharpshooter, but the swashbuckler comes out every now and then and she tears up the field to grab a score. 'In the last few years I've just kind of had it as part of my game. I don't know, maybe I do it too much these days, but if it's on, it's something I like to do. As long as the legs can keep moving forward. Tracking back afterwards is different!' Hehir's long-distance freetaking is a huge advantage also and overall, it adds to a package that has produced player of the match performances go leoir over the years, including in the vital first round Championship win over Wexford, that set them up to qualify for the last six. Much and all as she gets a great kick from landing a bomb, or supplying a decent ball to a forward, it is the challenge of going toe-to-toe with the elite of the sport that really gets the juices flowing. 'Definitely. We pride ourselves on playing from the front, going out and attacking the game, as opposed to sitting back and kind of letting the forwards dictate the play. So as much as we can do that, we like to take on that challenge.' That speaks to an environment of proactiveness, positivity and empowerment, which is a credit to Carmody. Sometimes it will go wrong, but the philosophy of not playing with fear has been at the root of the Clare resurgence. Related Reads Eoin Cody starts for Kilkenny as Tipperary name unchanged team for All-Ireland semi-final 'It's great because you can get caught up in hurling and nearly drive yourself demented' 'You can't let your own individual feelings manifest itself in being grumpy, being bitchy' The draw gave them a chance of getting this far but no one would have said with any firm degree of confidence that it would be Clare over Limerick or Wexford to emerge. That they took care of business, albeit on score difference over their Shannonside neighbours, was significant. Now Waterford stand in their way of an All-Ireland semi-final. 'It's probably a few years since I've played Waterford myself. We would have only watched on at their success over the last few years, getting to an All-Ireland final (in 2023). They really kind of pushed on and drove those standards, which is something that we can say we admire, but we definitely won't be sitting back and admiring them come Saturday. 'Their improvement over the last few years is something that we would obviously have liked to have done ourselves, but I suppose this could be the day to start that.'
