‘We’re very happy with the performance and the effort’

CORK squeezed past Tipperary in their second Allianz National Hurling League fixture last Saturday night with a palpable collective sigh of relief greeting the final whistle. The Rebels looked good throughout the game with all players on the field seemingly well-up for what the All Ireland champions were going to throw at them.

Cork named a strong looking side with plenty players that will fancy their chances of a starting later in the season while Tipperary had just a half dozen starters from their All Ireland final win standing for the national anthem.

Cork manager Kieran Kingston was understandably relaxed in his post-match media grilling with his side’s attitude the most pleasing aspect of the evening’s fare.

“Of course, we’re delighted with the win but I think mostly we’re very happy with the performance and the effort that our lads put in there. There was great honest to it.

“There was great attitude to their play and that’s something that we needed to bring. We were welcoming the All Ireland champions to Cork, a serious team, as is every team in this league. It is a hugely competitive league again this year. We’re delighted with the win on the back of that performance.”

Kingston may have taken the plaudits but he wasn’t in the form to get ahead of himself either outlining just where his side is at present.

“We’re not a bad team because of last Sunday (against Waterford) and we’re not a brilliant team because of tonight. That was one game, this is only one game and it’s no more than that. It’s a league game on the 1st of February.

“This team has been criticised in many quarters around its consistency, and many other areas as well. I can only answer those criticisms if we get some consistency into our play. Tonight, is one game. That’s not consistency. We’ll judge consistency in three or four games’ time.”

Cork did take the spoils of victory after a great day at the office, but they didn’t have everything their own way with injuries early on to two solid performers.

“Aidan [Walsh] is a quad issue, Tim [O’Mahony] is an ankle issue. We don’t know yet. It was a bit of a challenge early on and that was one of the most pleasing things after we lost two key players.

“Aidan and Tim were going really, really well. We lost them in the first half and we had to adjust, which we didn’t expect. We had rested a few students as everybody knew and we didn’t anticipate that we’d have to bring them in as early as we did.

“That upset our planned changes but there are no real plans for injuries so you have to see how it goes. I was delighted with the way the lads adjusted to that adjustment, losing a centre-back and a wing-forward.

“The change was seamless and I was very happy with that.”

Cork may have lost two players early on but plenty others stepped up with quality displays and on top of that list was Robbie O’Flynn.

“Robbie worked really, really hard. He had an opportunity tonight and he took it. There was many, many others. When you are making changes, sometimes you are making changes to a team and people might question why you’re doing that but obviously you’re trying to win.

“I would be of the belief that any time 15 players take to the field in a Cork jersey I would expect them to be competitive and expect them to put in a performance. That’s something we’re trying to grow to.”

Another player that showed plenty when coming in was Charleville’s Darragh Fitzgibbon, but Kingston distanced himself from praising individuals instead concentrating on the group. “I’m not in the habit of individualising players. I think it’s a team game. We played 19 players tonight and each of them did their job. The next night some guys might play better than others. Look we had two guys tonight coming back from long term injuries, Colm Spillane and Alan Cadagon, and they got some game time into them and it was great to see that because Alan hadn’t played in six months and Colm only had a bit of time in the Munster League.

“To get another game into them it was great.”

Kingston may not have said it but last weekend’s win over the All Ireland champions has lifted some early season pressure even if it is only early February.