{"id":475957,"date":"2026-05-31T09:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T09:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/475957\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T09:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T09:59:09","slug":"corks-attitude-not-just-their-hurling-will-decide-how-they-fare-in-all-ireland-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/475957\/","title":{"rendered":"Cork’s attitude, not just their hurling, will decide how they fare in All-Ireland series"},"content":{"rendered":"

Given the hammering that Clare faced from Limerick in the third round of the Munster championship, perhaps the magnitude of the win Cork<\/a> pulled off in round five isn\u2019t all that surprising.<\/p>\n

The Banner had certainly impressed in their win over Tipperary, and they did well to close out the win against Waterford. But \u2013 with the benefit of hindsight \u2013 we can see clearly where the shortcomings of the D\u00e9ise and Premier lay and why they were dumped out of the championship.<\/p>\n

Certainly, with the way it looks at the moment, you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking the gap between Clare and the Munster finalists is a lot larger than the difference between themselves and the two teams that were eliminated from Munster.<\/p>\n

Ironically, last season also saw the third-placed side in Munster receive a hammering from Cork at P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh, and they went to win the All-Ireland title, so nothing\u2019s signed and sealed yet. But I\u2019d argue Tipperary looked much better in last year\u2019s Munster campaign than Clare have to date this season.<\/p>\n

Darragh McCarthy\u2019s early red card completely changed the scope of the Cork\/Tipp game last year, and that would end up being Tipp\u2019s only defeat in the Munster championship. Clare were worryingly off the pace against both Cork and Limerick. It was a complete no-show.<\/p>\n

With none of Galway, Dublin or Offaly looking like they\u2019re at the pace of Cork and Limerick, could we go so far as to call it a two-horse race?<\/p>\n

I will.<\/p>\n

\n They were the two favourites from the outset and they\u2019re the only two to have played close to their best in the provincial series.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

Galway and Dublin have done very well, and they deserve credit for that, but there is no comparison between Leinster and Munster at the moment.<\/p>\n

\"Clare'sClare’s Adam Hogan battles with Alan Connolly of Cork. Picture: INPHO\/Tom O’Hanlon<\/p>\n

And, Ben O\u2019Connor\u2019s side have plenty of reason to be confident, even with the current injury roster.<\/p>\n

For only the second time since the introduction of the round-robin format, Cork have gone through the four games without suffering a defeat. They went unbeaten in 2018, securing two wins and two draws, but they\u2019ve managed to win all four games here.<\/p>\n

The last time a team managed that 100% win rate in the Munster round-robin phase was Tipperary in 2019, and they went on to win the All-Ireland.<\/p>\n

Cork have played some good hurling so far, but it\u2019s the way they\u2019ve played on the pitch and their attitude to championship hurling that has impressed me above all.<\/p>\n

We won\u2019t know if the scars from last season will resurface unless Cork make it to All-Ireland final day, but everything that we\u2019ve seen so far is trending upwards.<\/p>\n

Cork have come so close the past few seasons, and the team carries ridiculous strength on paper. They are blatantly, and obviously, well placed to win an All-Ireland. And so, because of that, Ben O\u2019Connor\u2019s job here was always going to be a mental one as much as it would be tactical.<\/p>\n

CONFIDENCE\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sport at the top level is decided by fine margins, that\u2019s a given which has led us to the most overused clich\u00e9 in the GAA space. But, when those differences are so miniscule \u2013 fractions of a percentage here and there \u2013 attitude is the natural tiebreaker.<\/p>\n

\n Attitude can be the difference between a one-point defeat and a one-point win.\n <\/p>\n

And from watching Cork this season, they\u2019ve been spot on in that regard at every juncture, league and championship. They\u2019re playing with confidence and without ever over-thinking the job at hand. They\u2019ve been hurling at their best, because they can.<\/p>\n

We saw in last year\u2019s All-Ireland final the catastrophic start that Cork had to the second half, and how that impacted the rest of the game.<\/p>\n

This year it\u2019s been completely different, and I think O\u2019Connor deserves credit for that.<\/p>\n

After the catastrophic start in the game at home to Limerick, in which they were 0-10 to 0-3 behind after 16 minutes, unlike in the All-Ireland final, they didn\u2019t allow it to shape what would happen next. They drove on, and did what they do best. Good hurling.<\/p>\n

\"DarraghDarragh Fitzgibbon will be marked absent for the Munster final. Picture: Tom Beary\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

Sure, there was a touch of fortune with Cian Lynch\u2019s dismissal. A sliver of luck again against Waterford. But have dictated what they could. They\u2019ve put themselves in the best positions that they can, in every game this season.<\/p>\n

If they continue to do that for the rest of the championship, it will likely be what decides whether Cork win this All-Ireland or not.<\/p>\n

Barring a narrow defeat to Limerick where the coin toss doesn\u2019t deliver the right face \u2013 there is no other outcome where Cork don\u2019t end the wait for the Liam MacCarthy Cup, as long as they continue to play with confidence, and do what they do best.<\/p>\n

Good hurling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Given the hammering that Clare faced from Limerick in the third round of the Munster championship, perhaps the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1965,1964,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-475957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-hurling","tag-cork-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475957","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=475957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}