Sean Og
By John Harrington
Cork hurling legend Seán Óg Ó hAilpin says the current team have proven they’re the real deal by beating Waterford in the manner they did in last Sunday’s Munster SHC Semi-Final.
Ó hAilpin thought it was a level above what they had produced in the quarter-final against Tipperary, and believes this young Cork team is now ready to challenge hard for silverware over the coming years.
“As good as the Tipperary game was four weeks ago the big question for me was could Cork deliver consistency? After Sunday that question has been answered and not just for me but for a lot of people down home,” said Ó hAilpin at Centra’s #WeAreHurling All-Ireland SHC launch.
“After the Tipperary game, to be honest, I thought it was to open and the scores were to good to be true – more like a challenge game.
“A win like that is good for the heart but it didn’t seem convincing enough for me. Sunday was different. I would have had Waterford down as one of the front runners and doing it once to Tipp was one thing but could they do it again?
“Not alone did they do it but they did it more emphatically than I thought. In reality though I thought they were 10 points a better team.
“I looked at the clock at around 53 minutes and though ‘this game is over’. There was no energy from Waterford compared to the last couple of years.
“All day their backs were working overtime trying to clear the ball while Cork were fantastic as a unit and coming out too easily if anything. Waterford didn’t seem up for the fight at all.
“Even if Cork don’t win another game I think they’re building a team to compete at that level.
“It’s been a few tough years for Cork and it was becoming an annual thing to be going home after losing by double digits. I’m holding my horses at the moment but they’re on the right track.”
Cork
Seán Óg O hAilpín pictured at the launch of Centra's #WeAreHurling campaign, which celebrates the passion displayed by all of those in Ireland’s collective hurling community.
Cork will now go into the Munster Final against Clare as favourites, but Ó hAilpín is expecting the Banner County to prove formidable opposition.
“I’d be wary of that even though I can see why they would be favourites. Clare didn’t set the world on fire beating Limerick but two things worry me.
“One, there’s a game in every team and there’s a game in Clare and if that’s the Munster final Cork are definitely in a contest. Two, my old colleague Dónal Óg (Cusack) is involved with Clare and if anyone knows the Cork psyche it’s him and that will be his value to them.
“We do have a couple of guys in the squad who haven’t won a Munster medal and they’ll be going at it like an All-Ireland Final.”
Cork’s exciting young team are being compared to the 1999 All-Ireland winning team managed by Jimmy Barry Murphy that Ó hAilpín and a clutch of other U-21 players starred on.
“I can see the similarities,” says Ó h Ailpín. “Jimmy brought in five or six new players that year.
“Our game was built on being a skilful, fast team like they are and they’re going into a Munster final against Clare like us and we actually beat Waterford in the semis as well.
“The big difference – and this is more kudos to these players than ours – is that these young fellas have had no glory at under-age at all.
“We came off the back of a couple of good minor years and two All-Irelands at under-21 so we were confident young fellas but these lads haven’t had that background but they have a natural maturity and self-belief.
“That makes this squad and their achievements all the more impressive.”
As a long-standing sponsor of the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship, Centra has launched #WeAreHurling, which celebrates the passion displayed by all of those in Ireland’s collective hurling community. #WeAreHurling reinforces Centra’s commitment to local communities across Ireland by shining a light on the many people who devote their lives to the game – making our national sport a pillar of Irish pride.
