AS CORK AND Clare ready themselves for another attempt at winning the All-Ireland senior hurling final later today, the Rebel’s’ defender Conor O’Sullivan has been reliving the drawn match first time up.

The left corner back highlights that the aftermath of the first final was a massive anti-climax after the excitement of the build-up. O’Sullivan says he was “shattered” afterwards and that it took himself and his teammates much of the next week to move on from the drawn game.

“Even if you didn’t play you’re going up at 1pm on the Saturday, up late Sunday night, and it was 4pm when I got back on Monday. Three days. ’Anti-climax’ was a word I used twenty times the night of the match, it was the only way to describe it. The banquet was dead, I’d feel sorry for anyone who paid 100 euro to go to it. Sickened. Plate of roast beef in front of them. Dead.

Win or lose you’re prepared for the year to be finished. Nobody saw the draw coming, it must have been ten or twelve to one so nobody saw that coming. I got home and my father was on the couch watching  The Sunday Game. Sure what can you do? I took Tuesday off.”

The Cork squad reconvened for a recovery session in the pool on Wednesday, and O’Sullivan says that on Friday there were still “a few fellas with their heads down.” However, a line was drawn and the players were asked to start preparing for the replay with a positive mindset.

O’Sullivan admits that a draw was the fair result first time around, and that Domhnall O’Donovan’s late equaliser was a deserved score for the Banner County.

“It would have been robbery if we’d won, to be fair. We led for the first time after 71 minutes. Clare were the better team for the vast majority of the match but there’s nothing sweeter than a one-point victory when you don’t deserve it.”

Despite the feeling of anti-climax and the disappointment of conceding that late score, O’Sullivan took great satisfaction from the All-Ireland final experience at Croke Park. The 24-year-old says the Cork management did everything in their power to prepare their team for the atmosphere in the build-up, but nothing compares to the real thing.

The corner back relished the All-Ireland experience. ©INPHO/Cathal Noonan

“It was class, the lads ran out onto the field and I was six or seven back and I heard the noise before I saw anything. You know you’re there then. You’re looking around, not one seat empty, you’re taking in the atmosphere for five minutes, and then you’re down to business.

“Management was on about that, they had noise on in the background when we were training, but nothing prepares you for what it’s like when you get out there. It’s completely different.”

Ahead of what was his first All-Ireland final, O’Sullivan concedes that he did suffer from nerves, but points out that those feelings are normal and welcome in the build-up to any big game.

“Sure if you’re not nervous for that there’s something wrong with you. I slept well the night before and I’d done my own thing the week before the match, so I wasn’t a ball of nerves.

If you don’t have a small bit of nerves there’s no point showing up. You get it out of your system in the warm-up, but you want to enjoy yourself as well. You’re not going to enjoy yourself if you’re nervous.”

Cork fond themselves two points behind at half-time, but realistically, they had been completely outplayed. O’Sullivan says the Rebels were glad to get to the break without trailing by a bigger margin.

“We were haunted to still be in it at half-time. We didn’t turn up and the lads (Clare) played very well. The lads (management) gave us plenty of confidence in the dressing-room, told us to keep working away, keep plugging away. Every team will have a purple patch, and we managed to work ourselves into the game.”

Anthony Nash was as influential as ever for Cork, whether keeping out Clare efforts on his goal or surging up the field to take frees. O’Sullivan is always mindful of letting his keeper recover from that effort, but appreciates the “unreal” communication he receives from behind.

“Nash on the way back is like a guy on a Honda 50 coming back, he’s coming at a ferocious pace and he’s out of breath when he gets back. You’re wasting your time trying to talk to him.

“He’s always in your ear. You’d be sick of him at some stages telling you what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. He’s very good in that sense.”

Anthony Nash’s communication is a great aid for the youngster. ©INPHO/Cathal Noonan

What of the final two scores of the game, first from Patrick Horgan to give Cork the lead and then from O’Donovan to secure the draw? It was breathtaking to watch from the stands, but how did it look from a closer perspective?

“I was on my own 45 for Hoggy’s score. If ever a score deserved to win an All-Ireland it was that one – he kind of pushed it, no backswing, I don’t know how he got the power into it.

“Domhnall O’Donovan’s point – in fairness I’d say he hasn’t scored too many points in his lifetime, but he did it. Good players do it when it’s needed. I was praying for the whistle but if it was the other way around he’d have probably given us the thirty seconds, you know how refs are going to be.”

Would O’Sullivan have put the sliotar over if he had found himself in a similar position?

“I’d have clung that no bother at all. No hassle.”

Rebels’ supporters will be glad to hear that confidence and O’Sullivan says Cork are looking for big improvements today.

“We’d hope we have more in us anyway. I’ve no doubt Clare wouldn’t be happy with how some things went for them so they feel they have more in them, but we’d hope to play better anyway.

Here’s the 9 clubs that supply players to Cork’s All-Ireland starting side

Here’s the 10 clubs that supply players to Clare’s All-Ireland starting side