Rebels are shooting themselves in the foot with defensive howlers
WHEN the euphoria of last Saturday night wore off – between the pitch invasion and the celebrations, Páirc Uí Chaoimh resembled a scene from a Munster final rather than a round-three game – there is no getting away from the fact that the video review session would not have been pretty.
The outpouring of emotion was understandable given the thrilling way in which the Cork senior hurlers went to war with All-Ireland champions Limerick last Saturday night and somehow found a way to produce the gutsiest of finishes in extra time to keep their season alive.
But the simple truth is that if they had lost this one, it would have been the longest of winters. Because for all their electric running game and the many ways in which they finally found a way to discommode the champions, they almost found a way to lose it themselves.
Defensively, Cork produced a few more moments that could only be described as kamikaze hurling. The two goals conceded were pure horror show.
As they prepare to play Tipperary this afternoon in another make-or-break tie, they need to stop shooting themselves in the foot defensively if they are to progress – or be the All-Ireland contenders that their overall talent suggests they can be.
At 1-11 to 0-8 ahead, they had Limerick in all sorts of trouble in the first half with a gameplan that was direct and effective, going long frequently with the puckout and tearing onto the breaks.
When Seamus Flanagan splits the posts from out near the sideline to bring Limerick to within six,
1-11 to 0-8, Limerick press high on Cork goalkeeper Patrick Collins for the restart. It’s actually three versus three in the full forward line, which means there has to be space further out the field. The obvious option is to go long.
Instead, Collins plays it short left to corner-back and captain Sean O’Donoghue who plays a short diagonal pass to the point of utmost danger, around the top of the D. Wing-back Mark Coleman is on his heels waiting, not even really looking for a pass that wasn’t on.
Aaron Gillane reads it and intercepts. Even if he didn’t, Cian Lynch would have won it.
When Gillane recycles, Seamus Flanagan strikes it off his hurl. It’s a decent strike but it goes through Collins who was guarding the near post. Saveable certainly, especially considering his opposite number Nickie Quaid had just tipped over a Brian Hayes doubled shot on the bounce that was travelling faster from closer range.
‘Bronntanas’ says Mac Dara Mac Donncha on commentary. A gift. To be repeated again in the middle part of the second half.
This time, they’ve done all the hurling again to surge five ahead, 2-20 to 1-18. Collins again goes to his corner-back, in the very same position, this time with one of the biggest players on the pitch – Gearóid Hegarty – closing in on him. It’s the wrong option, unless he is looking for a quick one-two before booming the sliotar downfield. O’Donoghue turns the ball over, then grabs Hegarty’s leg before letting go, clearly conscious of the black card rule and being sent from the field just as he was against Clare.
Mac Donncha proclaims: ‘Arís bronntanas.’
Another gift.
In a game of such magnitude, those types of defensive lapses are unforgivable. Cork’s problem, though, is that they are part of a worrying trend.
Just listen to Pat Ryan after the roundtwo game against Clare when again, they played with such spirit and style for great swathes of another thriller – only to lose their captain for a needless body collide with Shane O’Donnell that saw Cork play out the final quarter with 14 players and go from a point ahead to six down.
‘Unfortunately, you’re not going to win games if you’re going to have 14 men against 15, against a top class side. Our discipline left us down a small bit. Even our discipline as regards we gave too many frees to a topclass freetaker in Aidan McCarthy. That was the disappointing part for us.’
The same applied to the opening round game against Waterford when plenty hinged on the second yellow card picked up by full-back Damien Cahalane. Now, in his defence, the second looked very soft and the player had a right to be aggrieved. But from a point where Ciaran Joyce looked to have locked down six, the spine of the defence remains unsettled. While Joyce missed the Limerick game through injury but looks like he has years to come in that number six shirt, Cahalane went from being first choice for the first game to being dropped for round two.
Then Eoin Downey showed his naivete by getting involved in a bit of off-the-ball aggro with Seamus Flanagan after 17 minutes of the first half last Saturday night. After both picked up a yellow card, no doubt the Cork management were conscious of not losing another defender for the third game in succession and replaced him with Cahalane in the 23rd minute.
Patrick Collins’ decision-making too will have to have come under the microscope. Why did he go short to O’Donoghue at the threequarter mark when Cork were so successful in going long? Cornerforward Brian Hayes had just made a catch over Diarmaid Byrnes to set up a score. This was Cork deciding to hammer the hammer – and it was working.
While the team has sometimes made the game look unnecessarily complicated in recent years – Limerick filleted their short-passing approach in the 2021 final to put up a record first-half score – here was Cork mixing it up by bombing it down the middle and the forwards being big and bold enough to win their own ball. Seamus Harnedy’s ability in the air was another crucial factor and it’s hard not to think that Cork won’t try a similar approach against Tipperary.
No team in the five-county Munster group, however, has conceded more goals to this point – eight. No team has conceded more points either – 77. Now both Cork and Limerick have played an extra game but that is still a frighteningly high concession rate.
On the plus side, no other team has scored as much as Cork, not even table-toppers Limerick.
While a modern defensive icon in Diarmuid ‘The Rock’ O’Sullivan was bemoaning the lack of terrestrial television coverage last Saturday night, the best chance Cork have of being seen for the rest of the summer is by tightening up defensively.
Defensively, Cork produced moments of kamikaze hurling...
This was Cork deciding to hammer the hammer – and it was working