Pride and passion

Needless to say, he was delighted that everything fell into place last Sunday, but he wasn’t too surprised by that, although he understood why there was so much negativity surrounding Cork’s prospects going into the game.

“The results weren’t good enough last year, there is no argument about that, but we firmly believed there was a performance like this in us. We felt we had strengthened the panel this year, with a few new fellas coming through to give us a bit of freshness, and we had great confidence in them.

“We knew they were fierce ambitious, they were mad to play for Cork, and that they were brilliant hurlers. You could see that today, they were all very comfortable on the ball, and, while they might still need to improve in the physical stakes, they have speed, athleticism and desire in abundance, which is very important in inter-county hurling these days,” Ryan remarked.

While acknowledging that the newcomers came through their first major test with flying colours, however, Ryan said the manner in which the more seasoned campaigners stepped up on what they produced last year against Tipp was equally encouraging.

“Conor Lehane gave a brilliant display, nobody doubts he’s a fantastic hurler, but he came into last year’s game after struggling with a couple of injuries during the league, and it was a similar story with Seamus Harnedy.