Murray delighted to win with experimental starting fifteen

A MIXTURE of happiness and annoyance summed up Cork manager’s Paudie Murray reading of the game.

Delighted with a win from an experimental line up, new players have been drafted into the side and made a statement of intent.

“Some of our striking in the opening half was slow, that’s an aspect we need to speed up. It’s a young team , the average age in the panel is 22 years, we are starting to rebuild, that’s probably a three year work project but to come in here and shoot 1-18 is promising,” said Murray.

“At half-time, we asked them to tighten up in defence but tiring during the second half, we lost our way around the middle. Aisling (Thompson) had a rib injury, overall, we have not too much done for three weeks, our fitness levels are not what they should be,” he said.

From a new look league with a number of trial rules operating in Páirc Uí Chaoimh frustrated Murray where a player may use minimal contact on an opponent’s body from side-on, once they are making a reasonable effort to gain possession of the sliotar.

Elsewhere, the referee can blow the whistle to signal a wide / score and from that point, the sliotar is back in play and the goalkeeper is free to restart the game while a player may choose to take a quick free from their hand if they are fouled inside their own 45m line.

“I’m frustrated, I don’t think anything has changed and I’m pulling my hair out. Consistency is the key word, consistent refereeing is required, we will go out next week and come up against something totally different,” said Murray.

“It’s all very hard for a management team to sit down and advice a team. The way the contact rule is defined, it’s open to referee discretion but I think the association are to be complimented on changes overall,” he said.