Cork minors to take major step on path to senior side
IN the dream scenario of Galway supporters, this is the first step towards a minor and senior double. When the seniors were still a force and clinching backto-back titles in 1987-88, the county’s underage teams were barely mapped.
It’s hard to square the fact that since Galway have become the major player at this grade over the past 25 years, the success at senior level has dried up.
In that period going back to 1992, Galway have nine titles annexed. Kilkenny have six, Tipperary five, and Cork just three. Hurling’s ‘Big Three’ remain well ahead in terms of the overall roll of honour but no county has a better minor production line than the Tribesmen.
With the shift to Under 17 grade in the future, there will be an element of history attached to this one.
The guard of honour provided by the victorious Cork minors to their senior team on Munster final day was a nice touch, a sign of how the county sees the bigger picture and how important it is to have a linked pathway to success.
After the seniors’ exit, this one is freighted with even more significance for Cork.
An exhibition of free-taking from Brian Turnbull in the semifinal against Dublin means that Galway will have to be ultra-disciplined. The same player carries such a threat too from open play.
Midfielder Daire Connery has been an important figure in the engine room of midfield and the team has the memories of the epic battles against Tipperary to call on if this is tight, as expected.
Joe Canning’s nephew Jack was the name on many Galway supporter’s lips after the semifinal against Kilkenny and has the capacity to do damage on a Cork full-back line that looked nervy at different stages against Dublin.
VERDICT: Cork