‘They will definitely be favourites and we will be up against it’

THIRTY five minutes in to last Sunday’s game with Waterford and more than half of Cork’s defensive pack might have felt the hand coming round the shoulder to haul them off, such was the pressure that the set were under in the first half against Waterford.

One of those that felt the full force of Waterford’s ire in the first half was Na Piarsaigh’s Christopher Joyce. A solid opening period saw the half-back doing his best however there was little doubt that Waterford’s attackers had the edge.

Roll on the second period and Joyce came good, showing huge improvement, holding sway for long periods and pushing forward at much more frequent intervals.

After all of 77 minutes of pulsating, energy sapping minutes of championship hurling the city man was buzzing, showing no signs of fatigue from his exploits on the pitch.

“I thought the round-robin was great, and four games in five weeks wasn’t a problem. There were times when you could be playing for two years to get just four games so this new format is great. I didn’t think fatigue was a major issue and you are training just as hard between games in the old format. I think we are better prepared for the Munster final because of it.”

While Joyce was clearly elated at the progress seen so far, the half-back was clear that the upcoming opponents have also improved and will be in the same situation as Cork.

“Maybe we started playing at Waterford’s pace – we were doing things a little slow, we weren’t moving with the ball we were standing still – you just can’t do that at this level and in fairness they were catching us and putting it away. We knew at half-time that we had to up it.

“We need to put a 70-minute performance in, we still haven’t managed to do that yet. We have done enough to get to the final, but we need to push on now and get that 70-minute performance. If we can do that I think we will go a long way.

“We are searching for that and I think if we can do that in the final then we will be in with a chance of winning. They will be in the same boat as us, four tough games and that’s what you want ahead of a Munster final.

“You saw how close it was between the two sides when we met in the first game they had a lot of goal chances and they will fancy their chances of putting that right in the final.

“Clare are a really good team and I think they really have under achieved. This year they have won three wins on the trot now and will really fancy their chances against us in the final.

“They will definitely be favourites and we will be up against it and you saw how close the game in Cork was. We were lucky to get the win down there, but we got it and they will be coming for us now.” Joyce may have been a little surprised by the result in Ennis (Clare beating Limerick), but for the number five it was just another indication of the importance of playing at home.

“The home advantage is a huge thing and it might have worked a small bit against Waterford this year. Today was like a home game for us and you could hear the crowd there cheering for us.

“When you have a crowd like that there behind you it just lifts you more. You saw there when a point went over the roof nearly lifted off the place – even though there wasn’t a massive crowd there today you could really feel it – players feed off that so I wasn’t surprised that Limerick found it tough going to Ennis today.” So, what did Joyce think got Cork over the line and into the showpiece game this time round?

“I think the lads have shown a lot of character in the games so far and we have managed to come from behind to get draws or wins. We stick to our game plan and by not just playing long balls in that would have been easy to defend we managed to get the draws or wins.”