Cork's clumsy draw with Banner highlighted several issues
So, was Cork just a blood and bandage bubble of hype? Was a first National Hurling League title since 1998 a bit of a smokescreen because, in the words of Clare manager Brian Lohan, 'league is league and championship is championship'?
Was it merely the bookies' bluster that saw Pat Ryan's team backed down to favourites for the Liam MacCarthy Cup and short odds to finally end their 20-year drought?
Well, to be in Cusack Park in Ennis at halftime of Sunday's Munster first-round group game against All-Ireland holders Clare was to be firmly still on the hype train. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Just as they had been all spring, Cork were an unstoppable, irresistible force. The 2-15 amassed in the space of the first 35 minutes away from home was a testament to that.
A team that had scored 18 goals across a seven-match winning league campaign and 13 in the last three games alone were on fire on the front foot.
Now, a stiff wind blowing at an angle down the field helped the likes of goalkeeper Patrick Collins launch long deliveries down on a lethal inside trio of Brian Hayes, Alan Connolly and Patrick Horgan, and create a constant undercurrent of panic in the Clare defence.
Hayes was giving Darragh Lohan all sorts of problems, the Clare defender a late inclusion in place of regular full-back Conor Cleary, and he was powerless to stop Hayes zipping in along the endline and batting to the net.
Adam Hogan was getting stuck into Alan Connolly, but that couldn't stop the latter splitting the posts with a jaw-dropping score off balance, way out on the right sideline. Pic: George Tewkesbury/Sportsfile
Horgan was slotting frees or out in front to play provider, setting up Darragh Fitzgibbon for one of five clear-cut goal chances.
Fitzgibbon was even making John Conlon look like a player who had aged rapidly since last year's All-Ireland final, when the 36-year-old put in a heroic performance on speedster Shane Barrett.
So, no, the fact that Cork were hot favourites travelling to play a team who had won the last four championship encounters wasn't down to just hype.
But the question Cork fans are asking now is, where did it all go wrong? How were they a Declan Dalton free with the last puck of the game away from the shock of a first-round defeat, and in real trouble again in the Munster group after coughing up a 12-point half-time lead?
Credit to Clare, who showed such character and resilience when it looked like a case of damage limitation at the break. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
To be 12 down, minus Hurler of the Year Shane O'Donnell, plus the hardy Cleary in the full-back line, and then lose a blue-chip wing back Diarmuid Ryan to injury – just like the league game when Cork whipped in six goals to rout Clare at the same venue, it could easily have gotten ugly.
Instead, quick goals from Aidan McCarthy and David Reidy gave Clare early hope. The straight red issued to Barrett just before the hour mark did have a distinct bearing on the game, but Cork still held a nine-point lead, 2-21 to 2-12.
They had weathered the initial Clare storm and hit the last two points. Man down or not, a team of Cork's talent and experience should still have been able to close the game out from there.
The post-match review needs to deal with some uncomfortable truths rather than gloss over them. Pat Ryan has always been an honest, no-bulls*** leader, and he knows the buck stops with him in terms of in-game switches.
Robert Downey's knee was strapped, and the Cork centre-back and captain didn't look right and was caught for Reidy's goal before being substituted just 10 minutes into the second half. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Some of the damage was already done by then, and Ryan has conceded a change could – and should – have been made.
Then there was the sight of Fitzgibbon dropping back to screen in front of the half-back line after Barrett's red card.
The Cork 11 had been a rampaging presence further up the field to that point. It was hard not to think his defensive positioning just allowed Clare to dictate the play further out on the field and contribute to the way in which they attacked in waves and got score after score.
Pulling the league and championship's all-time top scorer, Patrick Horgan, was another funny one.
'What did Horgan do wrong?' was the question asked out loud in the press box at the time. It was hard to figure, given he was the top scorer to that point with nine points.
Apart from six frees and a 65, he had fired over two classy points from play in the second half, and was fouled for two more.
Making four forward subs when the biggest problem was arguably full-back, where Eoin Downey was struggling with the height and aerial ability of Peter Duggan, was puzzling – especially when a defensive dog of war, Damien Cahalane, was left on the bench.
Cork now have issues at three and six with a resurgent Tipperary coming to Leeside next Sunday. Round two is when Cork needs to show how much substance there is behind the early-season hype.
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