Cahalane: We’re blessed with manager
CORK defender Damien Cahalane is hoping that the performance against Kilkenny last Saturday night will mark a major turning point in the season for the Rebels.
Having failed to measure up in their opening two outings against Galway and Waterford, and having hit rock-bottom against Dublin the previous weekend, Cahalane understood why Cork were given little or no chance of making a game of it against the Cats, but he said he wasn’t surprised that they rose to the challenge in such tremendous style.
“I suppose the form-book suggested that Kilkenny would win the game easily, but, for a number of reasons, we knew we’d be highly motivated and that the form-book wouldn’t count for much tonight.
“Playing the All-Ireland champions meant it was a big occasion for us, while we were hurting badly as a result of the criticism we got after the Dublin match, which was a complete disaster.
“We had been talking about that during the week, and we were determined to buck up our ideas, so we put ourselves under pressure to deliver a big performance in front of our supporters.
“It was basically a case of putting into practice what we’ve been doing in training over the past few weeks and I suppose that wasn’t going to come under a new management overnight.
“We are blessed with the management team we have, and, while they can only do much for you, we’re learning from them all the time, and what you saw tonight was a result of that.”
Stressing that it was primarily about the performance rather than the result against Kilkenny, Cahalane said the players were ‘gutted’ by the narrow defeat at the same time.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing to lose, but we definitely restored our pride, and hopefully we can build on this in what’s going to be another tough game against Tipperary next Sunday.
“The performance we gave against Kilkenny should be a given every time we go out, and if we can bring similar intensity, aggression and hunger into every match from now on, we’ll definitely be on the right road.”
Cahalane believes that Cork would be capable of challenging for championship silverware this season providing the players are prepared to give it 100% in every game.
“That didn’t happen in our previous league outings, but fellas can be satisfied and proud that they gave it their all out there tonight. There’s some incredible hurlers in our dressing room, and this team has proved in the past they can beat anyone on a given day.
“Cork were in an All-Ireland final three years ago, after beating Kilkenny in a quarter-final and even last year we had a good league, getting to a final, although we were disappointing in the championship to a large extent.
“I think the key words for us going forward are consistency and self-belief, because if fellas keep believing in themselves and keep believing they can do it, it would enable us to acquire the level of consistency we are trying to bring to our game, and it would be onwards and upwards for us after that.”