JIMMY BARRY MURPHY says Cork have enough motivation this summer without talking about revenge.
The Rebels came up just short of the big prize last summer and aim to reach another final with defeat of Munster rivals Tipp on Sunday afternoon.
“I remember doing an interview before the first round this year asking if we met Clare again, would the revenge factor be big? Revenge is a factor but it’s not enough… if you’re not good enough to win a match, well you must have ability as well. Look at Kilkenny over the last ten years, the revenge factor didn’t count for much there.”
After being within a puck of a ball of winning an All Ireland last year, Barry-Murphy had high hopes going into the league. But instead of kicking on from the final defeat, Cork stuttered, something that immensely frustrated JBM.
“Our form was terrible during the league really. No disrespect to the teams we were playing but our form was very, very poor. It was very difficult to put our finger on it and I wasn’t accepting this hangover factor from the All-Ireland final,” Barry-Murphy said.
“Having lost it, I thought that we would be even hungrier to go on and lash teams in Division 1B and sail out of it but that wasn’t the case. From the players’ point of view, they were finding it hard to motivate themselves after the All-Ireland final.”
The turning point came against this Sunday’s semi final opposition, Tipperary, back in the league quarter final. Despite losing by 3 points, JBM felt his side got back towards the form they showed in last year’s championship.
“Tippearary blew us away in the first ten minutes and it was a shock to the system certainly, it was like the All-Ireland situation against Clare again, chasing down a ten-point lead which is terrible for a team. You can’t keep doing that and you win very little doing that,” Barry-Murphy said.
“I thought we showed again that we were capable of competing after coming out of 1B and we probably got those games out of our system. We showed at least we were able to come back and give Tipp a decent game.”
That Munster final was the last time Cork will play a hurling game at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, and given Barry-Murphy’s prominent role in Cork’s history, it was extra special for him. But despite being part of some legendary days there as a player, Barry-Murphy ranks the win over Limerick as one of the best.
“I was lucky enough to be part of Cork teams that won two five-in-a-rows in Munster championships and I don’t even remember the occasions being like they were in Páirc Uí Chaoimh the last day or like when Limerick beat us last year,” Barry-Murphy said.
“Of course the media exposure of the games is fantastic, the present Cork team has great support behind it, young people have got behind the team again, and you saw what it was like after the game. From that point of view I was thrilled to be a part of that, I was absolutely over the moon.”
