MUNSTER CRUNCH
Mcgrath: HQ is where all young hurlers will get the ultimate test
CORK great Seanie Mcgrath says another Munster title would be great – but getting back to Croke Park is the real prize.
A second provincial title in three years will guarantee Cork an All-ireland semi-final clash at GAA headquarters on August 13.
Mcgrath described that as the ‘real litmus test’ for any hurler with aspirations of winning the Liam Maccarthy Cup.
And he believes that if they can just get past Clare today then they have a young side well suited to playing at Croke Park.
Mcgrath said: “Croke Park, it’s the real litmus test for you as a hurler.
“When I was involved in the management from 2012 to 2014, apart from the 2014 All-ireland semi-final against Tipperary, we did reasonably well there.
“We played Galway there in the 2012 semi-final, had two great battles with Clare in 2013 and then just that off day against Tipperary the following year. It is the litmus test and you’ve got to get up there.
“It’s the only overnight venue we go to as Cork players. For Thurles, we travel on the day, the same for Limerick.
“The whole experience of leaving the day before, packing the bag, getting up in the morning, that’s all great for a team. So if Cork can get to Croke Park at some stage, hopefully for that All-ireland semi-final and a final as well, we’ll really learn from that.
“The likes of Mark Coleman, Shane Kingston, Luke Meade, Michael Cahalane and Darragh Fitzgibbon, they’re only 19, 20, 21. They’ve hopefully got 10 years of Cork hurling ahead of them.
“If they can get up to Dublin and experience that overnight thing, get used to the buzz and the bus to the ground, get comfortable with it all, that will stand to them. I think it would be huge for Cork to get to Croke Park this summer.”
Perhaps the best route of all to Croke Park would be through the quarter-finals. That might sound strange as it would mean losing today but it would leave Cork as the headline act on the opening weekend of the new Pairc Ui Chaoimh.
That would be a hugely glamorous occasion for Cork, even if it would mean they’d have lost today.
But 1999 All-ireland winner Mcgrath said: “It’s all about performance at the moment with his Cork team, maybe Pairc Ui Chaoimh and that whole occasion could be a distraction that you don’t need.
“From being involved in Cork management teams and knowing Cork, we always love going to Thurles. It’s manna from heaven for us, the exact same if not better at times than Pairc Ui Chaoimh.
“I think a Munster final win in Thurles and on then to Croke Park would do just nicely. Pairc Ui Chaoimh will be there for the next 50, 60, 100 years and with the help of God they will play loads of games there.”