REBELS REMEMBERING WHAT THEY STAND FOR

KIERAN KINGSTON’S yellow card in Walsh Park exemplified the crankiness of his Cork side. They had a point to prove and a chip on their shoulder when they took the field against Waterford. Seamus Harnedy was angry and that came across in his performance as he hurled like a man possessed. Everyone else fed off his aggression. There was an edge to the Rebels’ game that they have lacked for some time. The way Conor Lehane and Robbie O’Flynn spectacularly blocked down Jack Fagan and Shane

McNulty within a few seconds of each other set the tone, and that this was a Cork team who remembered who they were.

It is now up to them to repeat the trick in Semple Stadium. Can Kingston and his players channel all the anger and aggression for a second week in a row, especially when it is praise, rather than criticism, they have been hearing all week?

Cork remain one of the more interesting teams out there, if only because they have been searching for so long for a way to augment their silky skills and wrists with much-needed steel.

If the cries of ‘Rebels, Rebels’ in Waterford last Sunday suggested they had finally arrived in this summer’s Championship, we think it is wise to reserve judgment on their ability to contend until they back up that performance in Thurles tomorrow.