We are young.. but have no fear

Limerick v Cork, Croke Park 3.30pm

PAUL KEANE

DIARMUID O’SULLIVAN is confident that his young Cork team will rise to the occasion.

Only Pat Horgan and Seamus Harnedy from the current Rebels set-up have experienced a senior final before, back in 2013 when they played Clare twice.

Limerick are clearly comfortable on the biggest stage as they chase a third title in four seasons though Cork selector O’Sullivan (above) believes his players are “in a good place”.

He added: “We’re happy where they’ve come from since the Kilkenny game in the semifinal. The boys are in a good place and they’re comfortable with where they are at.

“A lot of the players are young but they’ve had good underage careers.”

When the sides met in

Munster back in early July, Limerick won by eight. Two goals just before half-time did all the damage then.

Ex-full-back O’Sullivan said: “We closed that off the Monday night after the game. We haven’t spoken about that game since. Like we do with all games, we finish them off on the Monday night. We recover, we have our video analysis, we close them off and that’s it, done.”

O’Sullivan himself was a key figure on the last Cork team to win the All-Ireland, in 2005. This is his second spell on the sideline alongside Kieran Kingston and he’s putting everything into closing that 16-year gap. The Cloyne colossus said: “This isn’t a fashionable gig by any means. We invest all our energies and spare time into it. But it’s what we do, it’s what we want to do, it’s what

we love.”