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Cork Hurlers: 2014

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For my two cents worth i think it would be important for cork to set a winning mentality from the off. The have the chance to breed real confidence into the team now with strong wins in this division. While cork competed well in last years league the narrow losses will chip away at confidence. while i like the 2/3 dual stars being available i also think we need another 2/3 players for different positions around the field. last year at certain stages cork were both lucky and un lucky but previous cork teams found a way to win where as in last years final when cork drew level with clare after a horrid start you would have expected them to drive on instead they went backwards and that comes down to the mentality. Cork arent far away but neither are tipp /kk/ galway/ clare / limerish ish so i think the team that builds up a head of steam in the league and brings it into the championship will put them selves in a very good position.

There isnt too much tinkering needed for the cork team with 10/11 positions being already filled before a ball is pucked.

I just hope that the age old cork mentality and cunning comes back and takes us to the promise land. If that cunning was there the last day we would be going in to 2014 as regining champions. there is no way cork shold have gone for a score in the final sideline against clare it should have been played down the field to the backs but thats my point cork didnt have the craft last year to see out a game and with out a change in mentality i foresee them loosing more tight games .

ritchie (Cork) - Posts: 346 - 17/01/2014 13:33:30    1532998

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Agree Ritchie

Thought we did ok in the league last year but ended up bottom of the pile (says a lot about the league structure doesn't it?). I think Cork (I know the main players were on holidays) made a big mistake not entering the Waterford Crystal thing (we got to the final last year and it was a useful tournament). I suppose maybe the thinking was given that we are in 1B, we have a chance to field more experimental sides - the problem being come May, will we know what our best 15 is?

We do need to build momentum. I think we will win group 1B. I also think that we should be looking at winning the league (it never did KK any harm). We will get extra games from quarter finals on against 1A teams and we should be aiming to win them - the momentum thing!

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 17/01/2014 15:33:12    1533083

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Keysersoze if best lk team went out against cork there would be 3 possible 4 NA piarsaigh men on it and that wouldnt in my view include the one who started last year. JA had a system of leaving our better players on the bench. That won't happen this year. One thing that seems to evade ppl from cork n tipp is an injured player is a bigger loss to lk or Clare because we have only about 50 or 60% of the pick that the bigger counties do

disillusiondfan (Limerick) - Posts: 4279 - 17/01/2014 16:32:23    1533121

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Cork will be there or thereabouts in 2014. Remember it was a faulty referees watch and a "holy mary" of a shot that cost them last year's All-Ireland. That said I would not make them favs. Dublin will take some beating this year with a return of the "Cats". Everyone will now have wised up to Clare so I think back-to-back titles is beyond them. At present I would go for Dublin followed by Kilkenny, Galway, Tipp and Cork in that order.

AwbegRover (Cork) - Posts: 136 - 17/01/2014 17:52:38    1533159

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disillusiondfan

Hi ya lad

I did a post last year regarding a clare comment about their pick and ill reiterate it to you. According to the central statistics office the lowest population in the top tier of hurling is also the most successful thats kilkenny

People look at cork and look at the size but never look at the competition that the gaa comes up against with other sports.
Soccer basketball rugby are huge in cork hell even hockey has a huge draw down here for reasons i just gont get. Cork city has 14 division 1 and 14 division 2 basketball teams as well as Demons and Neptune in the national basket bal league. Rugby in cork as well as limerick has gone absolutely huge

I was talking to a man re a big city hurling club with a huge tradition in all ireland club hurling and they had 7 players turn up for senior training

With regards injuries it effects any team i still full believe had Paudie O Sullivan been fit for the past season we would have won the all ireland first time out as he is a serious player and has great play making ability

But dont be fooled into thinking that cork has the well of players that other counties think we have. We really dont have a competitive city team at the moment and historically cork always need city players to win all irelands. And to just prove the point 1998 was our last u21 success and 2001 was our last minor success.

But alot of the quality is lured away but other sports. Id prefered 20 dedicated talented players rather than 50 average players to pick a team from

ritchie (Cork) - Posts: 346 - 17/01/2014 17:58:53    1533161

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The half-forward line is very strong if Walsh is everything we remember he was from u-21 . 10-Harnedy 11-Cronin/Walsh 12-Cronin/Walsh. The raw material is certainly there for everywhere bar half-back and maybe midfield lines.

RebelCork (Cork) - Posts: 789 - 17/01/2014 18:00:58    1533162

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Bennybunny

As regards Walsh, I thought he was just an awesome hurler, had everything, hes a big boost coming back. Remember him against limerick in u21 final in 2011.

preddan (Kildare) - Posts: 804 - 17/01/2014 19:31:45    1533210

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Come off it Richie. Cork city has a bigger population than all of limerick. Do u not think every county has competition from other sports. We're it not for NA piarsaigh limerick city 60% of counties population wouldn't provide any intercounty players. City is huge stronghold for rugby n soccer. Cork has 2 or 3 times the playing population of lk Clare or WFord.

disillusiondfan (Limerick) - Posts: 4279 - 17/01/2014 19:54:52    1533221

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It's funny how, according Thurlesblues, Cork had no forwards. They now have Harnedy, Walsh, Cronin, Lehane, Horgan and O'Sullivan plus a few very talented new faces in the panel.

RebelCork (Cork) - Posts: 789 - 17/01/2014 19:55:20    1533222

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It's funny how, according Thurlesblues, Cork had no forwards. They now have Harnedy, Walsh, Cronin, Lehane, Horgan and O'Sullivan plus a few very talented new faces in the panel.

RebelCork (Cork) - Posts: 789 - 17/01/2014 19:55:20    1533223

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Cork hurling gets robbed by rugby. Tomas o'leary (captained cork to minor all-ireland) would of had a massive future with Cork, Darren sweetnam. Has any other county got players of that quality choosing other sports?

RebelCork (Cork) - Posts: 789 - 17/01/2014 20:07:20    1533231

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O Leary n sweet man played hurling obviously as kids in limerick city most kids never even play hurling to start with so we will never know how many good hurlers we have lost. Lk have won 7 all irelands with i think only 2 or 3 medals ( certainly less than 5) hoing to city players. C'mon lads ye come from biggest hurling county in Ireland with the city in Ireland that has the strongest hurling tradition. In numbers terms only Dublin surpasses cork but they don't have the tradition in urban areas.

disillusiondfan (Limerick) - Posts: 4279 - 17/01/2014 20:55:14    1533259

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Rebel
Cork do loose players to rugby but ye are not the only ones. I would just love to have Murray, the Munster outhalf, playing for Limerick. This young man was very promising and highly rated by his club, however he opted for the'other' game. Of course there have several other 'defections' over the years so we have learned just to wish those lads well in their chosen sports.

Oldtourman (Limerick) - Posts: 4517 - 17/01/2014 20:55:47    1533260

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Hurling in the city has never been as low (although things are picking up again). My point was Limerick and Dublin aren't the only countys who can use the other sports excuse. Cork have had two proven county players taken in the past ten years.

RebelCork (Cork) - Posts: 789 - 17/01/2014 21:54:42    1533279

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Wasn't aware that limerick were using other sports excuse. That was started by a cork poster. Cork is a huge county with 3 or 4 times the playing population of other counties in Munster bar tipp. The point I was making is that an injury in Clare lk or WFord is harder on smaller counties. Obvious exception being kk where they appear to have a conveyor belt of hurlers comin through

disillusiondfan (Limerick) - Posts: 4279 - 18/01/2014 10:07:33    1533284

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There is a very interesting thread coming out of this debate i.e. the loss of talented youngsters to other codes Rugby, Soccer, etc. When one thinks back, is it not now ironic that when the debate was raging over the opening of Croke Park to these sports, warnings were issued about they being in competition with the GAA for talent? Mr. Kelly maintained that this was not the case and we should go even further and open even more grounds to them. Be afraid, be very afraid that we will lose even more players to these codes. We should never have entertained that "cock-eyed" motion and now we are reaping the benefits of it.

AwbegRover (Cork) - Posts: 136 - 18/01/2014 10:50:01    1533288

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every county will lose player to other sports. not just outside of gaa but hurling will lose players to football and vice versa. other sports will say that they are losing players to gaa. of which there is clearly far more than what the gaa is "losing". its an on-going competition, young players will play the sport that they grow up with most of the time. if "their" team is successful for a period of time when they are growing up they will want to emulate them. for example a lot more kids would have turned to soccer in the early 90's when ireland were going well. between 5 to 10 years ago rugby would have seen a peak in interest with ireland success and munster dominating aswell which im sure had a bigger effect in limerick than other munster counties. its just the way it happens. just take last year with limerick winning munster and clare winning the all ireland im sure if both counties can keep up that success it will attact youngsters in both counties. success at senior intercounty level is the key to getting attention from the kids.

hurlingexpert (Clare) - Posts: 1941 - 18/01/2014 11:36:56    1533300

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Although Cork haven't entered the Waterford Crystal this year, they will have an interesting match next Saturday 25 against UCC in the Canon O'Brien Cup. It will be interesting to see whether JBM will use the occasion to try out new talent. In the corresponding match last year, college players on the Cork panel played with UCC.

Midleton (Cork) - Posts: 646 - 18/01/2014 14:18:22    1533347

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Awbeg Rover: Thanks for the message from 1924, how are things back there?

RebelCork: Tomás O'Leary and Darren Sweetnam were primarily rugby players first who happened to play hurling also, not vice versa as some people would like to imagine, so they were not "robbed" as you try make out.

KeyserSoze (Cork) - Posts: 363 - 18/01/2014 14:55:38    1533357

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I never said those two players got robbed by Rugby, i said cork hurling does in general as it does in Limerick and Dublin and vice versa rugby loses talent to the GAA. If there was no such thing as rugby both of them would have had long careers with Cork which proves Cork also has to compete with other sports (and therefore lose players to them), maybe even more than Dublin has too.

RebelCork (Cork) - Posts: 789 - 18/01/2014 15:29:02    1533372

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