A NEW HURLING season beckons for Pat Ryan and Brian Lohan.
The Cork manager saw his team yesterday have their first run out of the year, last week’s game against Limerick scrubbed from the picture due to fog, while the Clare boss pushed a side into action for the second time that week.
The pair will meet in Ennis on the opening weekend of the league on 4 February and in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in the Munster championship on 28 April.
Time for a January stocktake then. Injury situation and new faces – how are the two counties shaping up ahead of the 2024 hurling campaign?
Cork
Back to work for Pat Ryan.
Since last May’s championship exit after a thriller with Limerick, Cork have had to wait for exchanges in a New Year.
Their first Munster pre-season league game created an injury headache. Declan Dalton entered the game as a half-time substitute, seven minutes later he was limping towards the sideline.
“I’d say it is a metatarsal injury, it’s disappointing,” admitted Ryan.
“Deccie had a metatarsal at the end of the year from the club as well on the opposite foot. He’s obviously a big, strong man so it’s disappointing. We’ll get that assessed.”
The last week has witnessed the end of club activities for a collection of Cork players – Niall O’Leary (Castlelyons), Damien and Conor Cahalane (Castlehaven) – as All-Ireland races come to a close. They will be eased back into the intercounty game.
“Niall is fit and ready to go but he’ll get a bit of a break now. The two Cahalanes have had a hectic schedule and were carrying injuries as you could see the last day, but I don’t think any Cahalane ever missed a game for Castlehaven.
“They’re great young fellas, they’d a great campaign. They’ll be another three or four weeks at least before we get them back into it. We’ll take our time.”
Ryan plans to shake up his starting side for Wednesday night’s trip to Rathkeale to meet Limerick. A separate group trained yesterday morning, a mix of recent U20 winners like Ben Cunningham, Micheál Mullins and Conor O’Callaghan, and the senior duo of Patrick Horgan and Seamus Harnedy.
The starting Cork team against Clare leaned heavily on the products of those U20 triumphs of late, Cork having collected three All-Ireland titles in that grade since mid-summer 2021.
“Bríon (Saunderson) played very well in goal,” said Ryan, “Cathal McCarthy, Robbie Cotter, Eoin Carey, I thought they were four positives for us, making their competitive debuts for Cork.
“I was delighted with those four guys.”
Cotter was in eye-catching form in attack, slinging four shots over the bar. His Blackrock club-mate Alan Connolly is on the comeback trail, alongside Tim O’Mahony and Mark Coleman.
Robbie O’Flynn’s presence on the field yesterday, sparked some life in the locals on a cold, low-key January afternoon. After a 2023 season wrecked by ankle and hamstring injuries, sustained in separate Páirc Uí Chaoimh games, the presence of O’Flynn is vital for Cork’s fortunes.
Cork claimed the spoils on the day, yet their display was marred by an inordinate number of wides. Cork struck 22 shots off target, in comparison to three from Clare.
“It’s something to be sorted,” said Ryan.
“We were shooting off the back foot an awful lot and not taking the right opportunities.
“You don’t mind missing some wides. Robbie [Cotter] went through and had a bad wide but he was taking the right shot – he was straight through and it was just inaccuracy.”
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Clare
A second defeat in the space of five days for Clare, but the early season timing and experimental nature of team selections, means it is not a sequence that prompts any real concern.
Before evaluating the players on the pitch in Páirc Uí Rinn yesterday, Brian Lohan had news of two totemic Banner hurling figures.
They won’t see Tony Kelly in action this spring.
“Tony had his operation there just before Christmas. There’s a lot of work to be done with the physios and the consultant and that and we’re hoping that he’ll be back for championship. There was a window there to get the surgery. It’s not ideal obviously but it is what it is.”
But John Conlon slipped back into their camp last week, the All-Star centre-back returning after a lengthy 2023 season that only concluded with Clonlara’s Munster final loss.
“John arrived into the dressing room on Friday night for training and sat down in the corner and just wanted to get back.
“We played Limerick on Wednesday night and lost and it was a great boost to see him coming in and sitting in the corner of the dressing room two nights later.
“He doesn’t open his mouth, he just togs out and trains as hard as he can. He’s a brilliant guy for us.”
Lohan is currently working off a squad of 55 players. That will be scrutinised before the league commences and cut to a more manageable number of 35. Tough phone calls in store then.
“We’ve had the panel and training panel together since the 24th of November and they’ve worked really hard both on the field and in the gym. We’ve seen a lot of them and there’s been a lot of positive stuff there, but obviously we have to make a couple of calls now.”
There were some recognisable names in yesterday’s line-up like Conor Cleary, Seadna Morey, Cathal Malone and Aidan McCarthy. Malone was particularly influential in dictating the patterns of midfield play, while McCarthy chalked up 0-13.
Otherwise, Lohan cast the net wide in terms of offering gametime. He fielded two different starting teams for yesterday’s fixture and last Wednesday night’s tie against Limerick.
David Conroy showed up well with 0-4 in that Clarecastle game, while Robin Mounsey, who has been on the fringes of the squad previously, struck a similar tally yesterday in a bright early showing.
Members of the Clare U20 team from last year have been afforded the chance to impress, along with those from recent county champions Clonlara and Corofin.
Keith Smyth, an underage starlet in 2023, shone when introduced from the bench yesterday, the Killanena man integral to a fightback that almost yielded victory for Clare.
Lohan was pleased with the contributions he witnessed. There are new faces populating the sideline with him as well.
“We would have known for most of last year that it was going to be their last year regardless of how things went, the likes of Sean Treacy and James Moran put in a savage effort for us for a long time.
“We’ve Brendan Bugler brought in there now and Tommy Corbett and it’s great to have them on board. We’ve Lukasz (Kirszenstein) as well, we’ve brilliant guys and we’re very happy with our set-up.”
They’ll park the pre-season Munster stuff now and shift their gaze to the Allianz Hurling League. They will cross paths again with Cork soon, that league opener in Cusack Park.
