IT’S MICHAEL WINNER
Nash hails ‘fantastic’ Cork debutant after recovery from serious illness
ANTHONY NASH has added to the plaudits Cork goal hero Michael Cahalane has received in the wake of Sunday’s stunning win over Tipperary.
The Bandon man came off the bench to make his Championship debut in the 66th minute and within three minutes had struck for a goal which sealed Cork’s first SHC win over their great rivals in seven years.
It came three years after Cahalane first broke into the side in the 2014 League campaign before then being told by medics to give up playing all sport due to an enlarged heart.
“It’s awesome,” said
Nash (right). “Fantastic really, he’s a great fella.
“Michael was written out of the GAA for the last few years and came back and got a great goal, but he’s been showing in training that he’s well capable.
“He’s shown in the League that he’s well capable of it. The most important thing is he’s a great addition to the squad and shows great effort in training.
“You can’t ask for much more. He’s an absolute great player and hopefully he’ll stay healthy.”
Tipperary were 1/4 favourites to maintain their winning sequence against the Rebels, who they beat at their ease at the corresponding stage 12 months earlier.
But, this time, Cork came with a different attitude, a different game plan, with their sweeper system having failed to stifle Tipp last year, and a different team too as manager Kieran Kingston handed out five full debuts.
Nash said he never had any fears about the new quintet of Colm Spillane, Mark Coleman, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Shane Kingston and Like Meade, all of whom acquitted themselves well.
“Jesus no, training has been going very, very well. They’ve been going very, very well. And there are fellas that didn’t play, and didn’t even get in the panel that have been going very, very well.
“We showed in the League that we have good consistency and that’s what we built on. We just looked for a performance and it was there, but it was one game. You are in a semifinal, so hopefully we will push on again really.
“We are going to enjoy it and then you park it because you have Waterford in a few weeks who have shown they are one of the best teams in the country.
“That’s a cliche, but that’s the way it is, we have to put in a performance in a couple of weeks.
“Waterford are an awesome side It’s going to be difficult, but we just go back to training and go again.”
Expectations will rocket on the back of this game but Nash insists the players won’t get sucked into that.
“Not within the camp, honest to God. We just try to keep it very much in-house as much as we can.
“One thing I thought was unbelievable was the support. We came around the corner and saw thousands of Cork people ready to go in through the turnstiles and they had belief in us and that’s great to see.
“Hopefully again the next day they will turn up, the same thing. We’ll try and get a performance ready for Waterford,” he added, ahead of the Munster semi-final on June 18.