Cork GAA Discussion Thread

It has been overall a fantastic year for Cork hurling, but after yesterday it feels like 2 steps forwards and 20 steps backwards. That 2018 all Ireland semi final against Limerick, was a sliding doors moment for both counties. It knocked the stuffing out of Cork hurling, and that was the day that the current Limerick monster was created. While we should have beaten Limerick that day, they have driven on since then, and taken it to another level entirely.

People like Anthony Daly were hyping us up, with all this red wave talk. But i saw a hidden agenda behind that. That was all about putting pressure on Cork, and trying to fire Limerick up to put on a big performance in the final. We are tactically a very naive team, and Limerick ruthlessly exploited that. Our day will come, but we are a bit further away from winning a senior all Ireland, than i originally thought.

I don't actually even think Cork are the second best team in the country. I think Tipp are. We didn't play them this year but I think if we had they would have beaten us. Are we better than Clare? We were very fortunate to beat them this year. We didn't play Waterford so I can't say if we are better than them. We are definitely in the top four teams in the country but either third or fourth I would say.

Another point to note is that the league format will be back in the Muster championship next year so we may not find it so easy to get out of Munster. We may have to play Tipp in Thurles and Limerick in Limerick. I think the different format worked in our favour this year but that won't be there next year.

As a Clareman contributing, I think that the observation about the media is spot on. The hype about Cork in some of the newspapers last week was difficult to comprehend. The talking up of a good team into potentially a great one was overdone and set Cork up imo for a big fall. Certainly neither Clare nor Waterford, both comparable in terms of ability, would have got that pre-match praise. It took the pressure off Limerick, who should have been red hot favourites and made it far easier for them to perform. I don't know what the motive for this exaggerated expectations were. but it certainly did Cork no favours.

Hi Glenmora, While I agree with the over the top hype on Cork was ramped up - I do feel that no matter who was in the final opposite Limerick the same would have happened. The closer you get to an All-Ireland final the "closer" the two teams seem to become in terms of level/ability.

To be fair in the run up to Waterfords All Ireland final last year similar happened the press will always big up both sides.

Did I think too big a deal was made of the so called "Red Wave" YES 100% it was overhyped. I was and am still over the moon at the U20 and again at the minor wins but the senior performance & result has definitely kept me firmly rooted to the fact Limerick are streets ahead of everyone. The chasing pack (in no particular order) Cork, Kilkenny, Waterford, Tipp & Clare - if I'm honest the gap is large right now, Limericks average winning margin in the championship was 10 points. I would have expected to write Galway in this list but they really had an abysmal year...

It's been so long since we won all Irelands at underage, so of course there would be a bit of buzz and excitement. Cork is a very passionate hurling county, we love our hurling, so there will always be a certain amount of hype when it comes to Cork hurling. Obviously we still have a bit of work to do, with regards to winning the senior all Ireland, but the springboard is now there, to build a senior all Ireland winning team. But it will take time and patience. Management wise, i feel the last tactically astute manager we had was John Allen.

Thank you Speakerboxx,

so exactly half the amount of wides that Limerick had

Well yes between Cork Kilkenny Waterford Galway Clare and Tipp it's fairly even. You could possibly add Wexford to that as well. It depends on which team, will break out from that group of teams, and eventually knock Limerick off their perch.

Yeah, whoever steers Cork through the next few years really has to find a way to develop a conveyor built of 4-5 U20s going to Senior so that by the time the U17 Wonder team graduate from U20 they'll be ready to light up the Championship.

It would be a terrible terrible mistake to deprive some of them of a crack at U20. Barret and Connolly should not have been poached.. they should have been allowed to experience that success with the players they have been with since U14. I'm sure Limerick were tempted to look at the likes of Finn and Lynch in 2017 but that team were allowed to experience an U20 where they more or less blitzed everyone. It puts the comments about Eddie Brennan at the time into context... he was laughed at for his failure to get a hold of the game but now looking back we know why. This can be Cork's future too if you take your time.

We have Diarmuid, Cunningham and OGrady is the backroom team all defensive players in their day and yet we produced a shambolic defensive performance made no effort to switch or move players around. Damien Cahalane should been brought on surely he could have man marked Cian lynch as Mark Coleman is not that type of a player. But hats off to Limerick they improved upon every game this year and peaked when it mattered. Roll on the round robin next year. Rebels abu.

If your footballers get their act together they should have as good a chance of landing an All Ireland as the hurlers. Dublin in decline and jury still out on Kerry/Mayo/Tyrone to be serial winners where as Limerick look very good for a few more titles in the next 5 years.

That's more so trying to get on the good books with Fergal Horgan than anything else. I've been very critical of Damien's performances in the past but one thing that cannot be faulted is his heart and commitment to Cork.

Regardless of the result last week, I cant wait for new season to start already,

best of luck to the camogie team tomorrow. Minors beat Dublin today in their All Ireland semi final, play Kilkenny in the final