JIMMY BARRY-MURPHY lauded his Cork team for the character they showed in coming back from nine points down against Waterford yesterday in Thurles.
But after watching his side draw a pulsating Munster SHC quarter-final, Barry-Murphy revealed his team are still searching for ‘that spark’ which characterised their play in 2013.
And ahead of the replay on June 8th, the Cork boss reckons several of his players won’t be happy with their performances yesterday.
“A lot of our players I wouldn’t say are happy with their overall displays. I thought we were poor in the first half, even though there was a strong breeze. We didn’t get to grips with the game.
“When we went nine points down it didn’t look good at all and I was very dubious whether we’d be able to come back from that. Something similar to our league games, that we didn’t seem to be up to pace again. Some very silly play on our behalf as well I thought.
“We’ve been playing this way right through the league and we haven’t got that spark back that we had at times last year. I wouldn’t say I’m annoyed because the players showed great character after being nine points down. The one positive coming out of the game was the character of the team.”
Cork entered the game on the back of a spring spent plying their trade in Division 1B and Barry-Murphy admitted it may be linked to their ineffectual showing.
“It’s a relevant question. I just feel it’s hard to know. We’ve had a good break since we played Tipperary in the quarter-final of the league here. That day we were the same, very sluggish, but we got going towards the end. We’re just not getting to the pitch of the game as much as we’d like.”
Deise Display
The Cork manager praised their opponents.
“Credit to Waterford, they played very well on the day. They came in under pressure with injuries and different things but they took the game to us and they were excellent on the day. From Waterfords’ point of view they entered the game as underdogs but performed brilliantly. They’ll be very pleased with the performance I presume. We’re not.
One of the bright spots Cork throughout the game was the impressive attacking play of newcomer Alan Cadogan. Barry-Murphy enthused about the display of the Douglas youngster and insisted that he should ‘without a doubt’ have been awarded a free at a crucial juncture in the closing stages.
“I thought he was excellent, great contribution. He’s a very promising player and I was delighted for him today. Every chance he got he seemed to trouble Waterford. A lot of our players in the forward line found it hard to get into the game apart from Alan Cadogan in the first-half a lot of players weren’t playing as well as we’d have liked.
“We wanted to get Pat Horgan into the game and involved. He’d a great contribution int he second-half. All of our backs improved. Mark Ellis had his first game for Cork at centre-back and he played a great game, I’m delighted for him.
“In fairness Lorcan was excellent and Christoper Joyce had his best game for years. Bill was very good when he came in and all the subs did well.”
