HE DIDNโT GO AS far as saying that thoughts of Limerick shaped every waking minute, but Cork manager Pat Ryan had them eyed up since before he even got the gig.
Doing it on their way to a historic five in a row made no odds. They just had to be beat.
Sitting in the media centre after the game, Ryan had just about collected himself when he said, โWe just made a conscious effort since we came in 18 months ago that if we were playing Limerick, that we just wouldnโt give them that easy opportunities.โ
By that, he meant squeezing all the areas he and they could. And that took them right into the period of added on time. Ahead, yes, but in the grip of a Limerick crocodile roll. Youโre not in control of anything at that stage.
โItโs tough going. Youโre watching the match and youโre seeing where itโs going. Youโre trying not to get too involved in it,โ he said.
โObviously Iโll probably argue with the referee and the sideline trying to get a few decisions.
โBut from my point of view, once the team is prepared, once weโve trained as well as we can, once everybody is doing their job in our group, between the S&Cs, the fitness guys, the hurling guys, my own selectors and management team, we have a fantastic mental coach as well, Gary Keegan.
โSo weโre ticking a lot of those boxes that need to be ticked. I knew our lads were going to perform today, but saying that you were going to beat Limerick was another thing. So it was a fantastic achievement to me.โ
The gameplan was to engage them as high up the pitch as possible. That made for one of the classic games of hurling, but it was a mere by-product of the thought that went into this
โI suppose the one thing that I would always talk about Limerick, that if you leave them pass the ball, theyโre going to beat you, and that was our one thing, our one mantra all the time, was that weโd push up on puck outs and weโd take a chance,โ he said.
The 1-28 to 0-29 win means they have beaten them twice in one season. Nobody can say that Cork do not deserve their place in the All Ireland final. But they still have Clare waiting on them in a fortnightโs time.
โI think Clare are probably delighted as well to be there. Do you know what I mean? I think thatโs the joys of it,โ he said.
โLook, weโve two new groups going into playing the final. Look, itโll be a special occasion.
โI didnโt have any doubt that we werenโt going to perform today. to be honest with you.
โYou could see it in training, obviously it was a lot made of maybe lacklustre performances against Offaly and Dublin but look, from where we came from after losing the first two games in the championship, that took an awful lot of energy, emotional and physical energy to get over Limerick and Tipperary in those games, there was a lot of preparation needed to get us back into the championship and look, weโve driven on from there.โ
There is a lot of waffle talked sometimes about the connection between team, management and fans. Some of it is charlatan talk. With this Cork team though, it doesnโt feel like it.
Itโs only been three years since they have been in a final, but this one feels like they are in line for their first Liam MacCarthy since 2005, the longest drought in their history.
The inevitable by-product of hype is something Ryan believes they will surf from now until then.
โThe crowd that was up here, thereโs going to be fantastic excitement in Cork over the next two weeks and thereโs going to be fantastic excitement in Clare. Itโs going to be hard to keep the hype down in both counties. There hasnโt been a different Ireland champion since 2019.
โSo look, thereโs going to be fierce excitement. From our point of view, weโll just have to do our best to keep it down. But look, I said this when I got into the job, fellas asked me what would be the success of this job. If youโre a Cork man, you have to win an All Ireland. Simple as that.
โIf you donโt do it, itโs not successful. And look, thereโs been fellas before me that have done fantastic things and got to all-Ireland finals and have been very unlucky in those days. But look, we judge ourselves in Cork on winning all-Ireland so we need to get back to that.โ
The feeling and emotion has been rolling down the stands onto the pitch from that first win over Limerick in Pairc Uรญ Chaoimh. It reached new heights at the final whistle here with The Franks โAfter Allโ getting the communal singalong.
โIt would be impossible to quell it down in Cork, to be honest with you,โ said Ryan.
โWe get confident after winning a Tiddlywink match. So look, from our point of view, itโll be just minding it from ourselves. And look, itโs hard.
โLook, fellas are amateur men. Theyโre going into schools, theyโre going into work, theyโre going into their families. But from our point of view, look, we know the jobโs not finished and thatโll be our attitude.โ
Along the way, he acknowledged the glitches in the system over the last few weeks. The bug that ran through the camp, the just-do-enough win over Dublin that led him to praise the Dubs full-back line as comparable to anything in the country.
Alan Connolly? Had to play him against Offaly, despite his sickness. Brian Hayes and his sensational 1-4 today? No regrets about poaching him from the county footballers, watching him blossom with the county U20 team.
Above all, who wouldnโt want a 6โ4โ man in the full forward with that touch and feel for the ball?
โAnd heโs a bit different,โ said Ryan. โHeโs got the old โBarrs mentality as well, which is great.โ
On Saturday night, they travelled up on the bus. If Clare and Kilkenny was watched, it was on playerโs phones.
A couple of hours after the game, the Cork press night was announced. Monday night, just over 24 hours after this win.
No time to lose. Not a second.
The team that beat Limerick twice meets the team that lost to Limerick twice. But the team that lost to Limerick twice already beat the team that beat Limerick twice!
We are red we are white we are fโฆโฆ. dโฆโฆ. and we love you we love you we do
@Square: dynamite should get through filters okay Shaney!
@Joe Kennedy: haha