PATRICK CRONIN AND Kevin Moran both began their spells as Cork and Waterford hurling captains over the weekend.
Cronin’s appointment was confirmed at Saturday’s Waterford Crystal Cup first round game in the Mardyke, where Cork were 3-20 to 1-16 winners over UCC.
The 25 year-old made his inter-county senior debut in 2007 against Clare and has been a mainstay of the Rebels side since then.
Last year he was particularly prominent in a midfield role for the Rebels as they reached the All-Ireland semi-final where they were defeated by Galway.
He becomes the second Bishopstown club man in three years to skipper Cork after Shane O’Neill had that honor during the 2011 season.
Donal Óg Cusack was Cork’s captain last year until his season was ended when he suffered a serious Achilles tendon injury in last April’s National League semi-final against Tipperary. Glen Rovers Patrick Horgan deputized in the role for the remainder of the 2012 campaign.
Cronin will be hoping to lead the county to league and championship silverware this year as he still searches for his first senior hurling honor. In the underage ranks, he won two Munster minor medals in 2004 and 2005 and a Munster U21 medal in 2007.
Cork’s next match sees them face Waterford IT at the quarter-final stage of next weekend’s Waterford Crystal Cup.
Meanwhile De La Salle player Kevin Moran lead Waterford out for the first time in action in yesterday’s 1-20 to 0-18 defeat to UL in the Waterford Crystal Cup in Carriganore.
Moran fills the role after last year’s captain Stephen Molumphy was ruled out for the 2013 season due to work commitments with the Army.
The 25 year-old has previous captaincy experience from last year at club level when he lead De La Salle to their third Waterford title in five years and he captained Waterford IT to win the 2008 Fitzgibbon Cup.
Moran, who made his Waterford senior debut in 2006, has two Munster senior hurling medals to his name with the county (2007 and 2010) and last year won his first Allstar award.
Waterford captain Kevin Moran leads out the team. Pic: INPHO/Ken Sutton
