![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0023a348-614.jpg\"\/)
\nColeman says the sobering defeat to Tipp will stand to Cork in the long run<\/p>\n
The nights may be dark, and the training sessions cold and wet, but that hasn’t dampened Mark Coleman\u2019s excitement for the Ben O\u2019Connor era of Cork hurling.<\/p>\n
The 2017 All-Star was naturally sad to see Pat Ryan depart as manager after coming so close to All-Ireland glory.<\/p>\n
That emotion has since been replaced by a fresh feeling sweeping through the Rebel camp as they begin their 2026 preparations under new boss O’Connor.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s been a big change,” said Coleman at the Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League launch. “There\u2019s a lot of new faces around in the backroom team and the panel as well.<\/p>\n
“Naturally enough, it’s always a tough time of year to go back training, but on the whole, it’s exciting to have a new management team. Everyone has a point to prove again.<\/p>\n
“It was disappointing to see Pat go, but maybe it brings that bit of freshness again.<\/p>\n
“It’s their first year, so they’ll probably drive it on another bit. It’s probably not what we were thinking at the time when Pat left, but it definitely brings a bit of freshness into it.”<\/p>\n
As for first impressions of O\u2019Connor\u2019s management style, Coleman says the focus has remained firmly on S&C to date.<\/p>\n
“We haven’t had much interaction so far this time of year, with no games,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It’s very much strength-and-conditioning-based at the moment. I suppose time will tell, really.”<\/p>\n
The same applies when asked about Niall O\u2019Halloran\u2019s departure as coach, three months after being appointed to the role.<\/p>\n
When asked if he\u2019d had many dealings with O\u2019Halloran, Coleman replies: “No, absolutely not. We didn’t do any sessions with Niall at the time.”<\/p>\n
Cork\u2019s second-half collapse in the All-Ireland final against Tipperary was a topic they didn\u2019t shy away from in the aftermath.<\/p>\n
From those conversations, Coleman doesn\u2019t detect any lingering scars which would impede their future prospects.<\/p>\n
\nColeman says the sobering defeat to Tipp will stand to Cork in the long run<\/p>\n
He said: “You’re not going to just forget about it and put it to the back of your mind, because you need to take the learnings from it.<\/p>\n
“There probably is a few things that we might sit down and try to figure out, but it’s a difficult one to talk about.<\/p>\n
“You have to look at the team as a whole and see that there’s a young team there, and if you look at ’23, \u201924, \u201925, it’s been better every year.<\/p>\n
“And that \u201926 is going to be another step in the right direction, because \u201925 was probably better than \u201924 in terms of a bit more consistency and better performances.<\/p>\n
“You have to look at it that way and look at \u201926 again as another opportunity to build on that.”<\/p>\n
Heading into his 11th year on the Cork panel, Coleman sees plenty of evolution in his style of play compared to those early days.<\/p>\n
“I’m a different player in a way, in terms of when I came in first, I was very much a small, scrawny, little half-back.<\/p>\n
“I was trying to get on loose ball around the place, whereas now, the way the game’s gone, it’s now reverted back to a bit more traditional at times.<\/p>\n
“You need to be that bit more physical around the half-back line and you develop physically in the gym as you get older.<\/p>\n
“The game has demanded it. You need to be a bit more engaging, physically, around the half-back line.”<\/p>\n
Widely hailed as a classy hurler, Coleman reckons his defensive work is just as strong.<\/p>\n
“I wouldn’t be seen as a defensive player, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a weak point of mine or anything.<\/p>\n
“Maybe it was in the past, but certainly not anymore, I would say.<\/p>\n
“Naturally enough, there’s probably people who are better defenders than hurlers, and their hurling ability wouldn’t get as much credit as it deserves, either.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The nights may be dark, and the training sessions cold and wet, but that hasn’t dampened Mark Coleman\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-196163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}