Latest news with #CorkTeam
BreakingNews.ie
10-08-2025
- Sport
- BreakingNews.ie
Cork's Meabh Cahalane not focused on three-in-a-row talk ahead of All-Ireland final
Meabh Cahalane says Cork are not focused on talk of a historic third All-Ireland in a row ahead of Sunday's final against Galway. After league and Munster wins, Cork will go into Sunday's final as favourites, in a repeat of the 2024 decider. Advertisement A Cork side that has achieved so much success in the last three seasons, should they win on Sunday, Cork would become the first team since Wexford between 2010 and 2012 to win three straight All-Ireland titles. Despite the potential to make history, Cahalane says all focus is on winning the game. "We are just looking at it as another All-Ireland final. There is no point talking about three-in-a-row unless you actually go and do it. "It is a huge opportunity for us, but we just need to make sure we put in a performance good enough to win this year's All-Ireland that will lead to three-in-a-row. Advertisement "If there is any group to do so, it is this group. They are a hugely talented bunch. We have strength and depth in the squad. "Some of the girls in the panel, it is their first day out in Croke Park, it is their first time in an All-Ireland final, so we are just treating this like any All-Ireland final in the past." With serial winners all over the pitch for Cork, there is plenty of experience for the Rebels to fall back on for the final. However, Cahalane has praised the role younger players have played in the squad, and says winning the Division 1A title back in April was important for the team. Advertisement "Winning is a habit, and we set out at the start of the year that we wanted to go after the league. We took it game by game, and we had a good win over Galway in Thurles in April. "For some of the girls in our squad who haven't had as much game time in the last couple of years. Players like Sorcha McCarton and Clodagh Finn have really stepped up this year. "They are huge players in our team now. There is girls who came on the last day, Orlaith Mullins, Cliona Healy, and Meabh Murphy, and they all played their part." With two teams full of talent beyond the starting 15, and little to sperate the sides in last year's final in Croke Park, the Cork defender can see the bench having a big impact. Advertisement "We have a motto in our squad go as hard as you can for as long as you can. "We have finishers to come in then and finish the job. That is all we have to do, do our job and we know we have these people to come in off the bench and help us to get over the line. "Orlaith Mullins got in great positions the last day and managed to get off 1-2, as she had been doing in training. "We will be looking to the girls again to come in and bring the same energy off the bench, and we will have to do our job as long for as long as we can before the come on and make that impact."
Irish Times
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Pat Ryan: ‘Our momentum and our energy was terrible in the second half'
Pat Ryan never found a bush worth beating around. Cork came to win the All-Ireland , led by six points at the break and got blitzed by 21 in the second half. No ifs or ands or pots or pans about it. 'We just got outworked really, to be honest,' he said. 'They got great momentum behind themselves, got a few scores and got the crowd behind them. They got a couple of breaks of the ball with a couple of the goals they got and then obviously the sending-off. 'Look, credit to Tipperary . They came out and worked really, really hard. We were in a good position at half-time but we got blown away in the second half.' Then he corrected himself. He didn't like that mention of a couple of breaks that might have gone Tipperary's way when it was quoted back to him in the next question. READ MORE 'It's wrong to say luck because it was a lot of good play by Tipperary that won that game. Luck had absolutely nothing to do with it. Look, the harder you work, the more breaks that come for you and the more balls that fall into your hands. 'In fairness, they worked really, really hard, used the ball really, really well and put us under pressure on our own puck-out, especially in the second half. And put us under big pressure on their puck-out in the second half as well. Credit to Tipperary. It's disappointing for our fellas.' Disappointing isn't the half of it. Any team can lose an All-Ireland final but to fizzle out of one so badly is going to stick in their guts for the winter. Cork have now lost three finals in the space of five seasons, two of them by cricket scores. That's going to take a lot of getting over. 'Our momentum and our energy was terrible in the second half,' admitted Ryan. 'They had all the momentum, they had all the energy, they were the crowd that were working the hardest. That's the disappointing thing from our point of view. 'Obviously it's the second All-Ireland in a row that we've lost. Just really, really disappointed with that second half. We didn't represent ourselves the way we should have represented ourselves. Credit to Tipperary. They came up and you could see that they had loads of momentum behind them and they had a lot of good players all over the place.'
Irish Times
05-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Pat Ryan pours cold water but the Cork hype train has left the station
Pat Ryan tends to try to find the holes in things when he talks about his Cork team. It's a defence mechanism, maybe. A way of keeping the great Cork glass elevator from spinning off into the sky. It's not the easiest trick to pull off when your team has won an All-Ireland semi-final by 20 points. He gave it a go, all the same. 'We're targeting goals all the time. We're targeting fast starts all the time. That's the goal of it. I think the lads were really clinical today. We left a few behind us and an awful lot of scores behind us from points. But that's me being a bit critical, I suppose. Maybe over-critical.' The last time Cork played in Croke Park, they lost the All-Ireland final by a point in extra-time. As if the torture of a result like that isn't bad enough, the next-day reality is almost as bad. You slide all the way back down to the bottom of the board. You go from being so close to the big prize you can almost touch it to being as far away from it as everybody else. They are the first Cork team to lose an All-Ireland final and make it back to the following year's decider since 2003/04. It's never a given. READ MORE [ Cork return to All-Ireland final after demolishing Dublin in Croke Park Opens in new window ] 'We came out of here 51-and-a-half weeks ago and for us to get back here to a final shows the strength of character and commitment to the jersey that the lads have,' Ryan said. 'We knuckled down, we got back, we refreshed the panel a bit more. We looked at the areas we didn't do well as a management. We spoke to the players about that. We really went after performances in the league and tried to make that as best we could. 'A small little thing, the weather was good. If you're not really involved in teams, you might not notice it and think the weather is always the same. But the weather has been great and the lads have really enjoyed coming to Páirc Uí Rinn and Páirc Uí Chaoimh and the year sort of flew.' They came here with murderous intent. Seven goals in an All-Ireland semi-final hasn't been done since 1986. Cork did it that time too, although it only washed out in a five-point win over Antrim back then. That this was a 20-pointer was down to the sheer intent and accuracy of Ryan's team. Tim O'Mahony scores Cork's sixth goal. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho 'The accuracy was very good. I thought after the first two or three goals we probably pushed it a bit too much. We should have been building the score. We left three or four points behind us that would have left the score tipping away and just kept making it difficult for Dublin. We gave away two soft goals then, which we were disappointed with. We came in at half-time and the lads were really focused. I thought maybe our work-rate was a bit down as well. 'But they're areas we'll go after. The commitment the lads have put in to get back to a final has been immense. We're back where we were last year and the ambition is to go one better. But we know the opposition will be really, really good as well.' For Niall Ó Ceallacháin, it was a chastening experience. His team were rinsed, even though they put up 2-21, a score they would have presumed could be competitive. To his credit, the Dublin manager didn't just throw up his hands and say there was nothing they could have done about it. But he did concede they were playing against the best team they've faced. 'By a long way,' he said. 'And I don't want to do Cork a disservice by hyping them up. Every game is different. But what I will say is that is by far the best performance over 75 minutes that I've seen this year by a long way. Alan Connolly scores a goal for Cork. Photograph: Leah Scholes/Inpho 'They are going to take some beating, I would say. That's as good a team and performance from a sharpness perspective that I've seen in a long, long time. Their goals, we couldn't live with. Their pace and power inside. They were breaking the line, they had the composure and presence of mind in tight scenarios to be really aware of who was outside and just popped the ball outside. They did that extremely well.' Could Dublin have changed anything? Dropped a man back to protect the full-back line, maybe? 'I think it's a fair question. I think it's a fair question when you concede seven goals. Like I'll tell you straight out, we intentionally didn't. Straight up, we intentionally didn't and I've been proven wrong now, so I can be fairly criticised. But the way we see it is there's just no point in a zonal back six against a team like Cork. You won't concede seven goals, so you won't see a scenario like that. But you will lose the game. You will lose the game. 'So is it risky setting up like that? It absolutely is. Should I be criticised today? Absolutely. It didn't work. They were very sharp and they were excellent. But what I would say is with the alternative you won't lose by 20 points like what we lost there. But you will lose the game.'
Irish Times
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Cian Lynch: ‘Hurling is so instinctive, it's an art form, it's an expression'
Cian Lynch still carries the scars of battle, stitches across his left eye and several grazes down his legs. But compared to the hurt of losing Saturday's epic Munster final to Cork , those scuffs don't cut quite as deep. The manner of the defeat, after a penalty shoot-out, is something that has animated many hurling fans over the last five days. Lynch was not even aware there would be a penalty shoot-out until after extra-time and while he praises Cork for getting over the line, the Limerick captain would prefer to see provincial finals decided by a replay. READ MORE 'I suppose it's not for me to make a point or make a comment on what's the right thing to do but you'd love to have another crack at it. Any team would,' says Lynch. 'But for us, it's just about accepting that that's in the past now. We unfortunately didn't win and Cork did. 'It's great credit to Cork. They got the victory in penalties. The game could have gone either way. 'Look, it's something to obviously review. Hurling is so instinctive, it's an art form, it's an expression. Why do people play it? It's because it's a 15-man game, it's a chance to have a man on the shoulder to support. 'But when it comes to penalties, other than the five guys and the goalie, I suppose you're helpless standing on the sideline watching. It's tough for guys, but it is what it is.' Limerick's Cian Lynch dejected after the game. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Lynch did not take a penalty last Saturday night at the Gaelic Grounds but had nothing but respect for those who were prepared to stand over a sliotar in those pressure-cooker moments. 'If you were asked to take one, I'm sure 100 per cent you'd do anything you can to help the team but I wouldn't be someone that's known to stand over a free or a penalty, to be honest with you,' he says. 'But the five guys, obviously our guys, the same as Cork obviously and Nickie [Quaid], to step up, that takes some courage. 'After playing 70 to 90 minutes of hurling, to have it based on standing over a penalty, that is tough. That is some responsibility, but great credit to the guys, great credit to Nickie and so on. Just the way it is.' Galway defender Fintan Burke watched Saturday night's drama unfold and is also of the belief that a replay would be a fairer way to produce a winner. 'If you win great and if you lose it's the worst thing in the world,' says Burke. 'I'd be of the opinion of a replay. That's just personal, I don't think penalties are a fair reflection on where a team is at, as in you could have five great penalty takers and maybe the other team only has three, and it's not really reflecting on hurling throughout the team. So personally I'd be going for a replay, but that's just again personal preference. 'People just think you're standing up hitting a shot, but you've to put so much energy in and it's probably a lot more mentally you're exhausted and you have to walk the 60 yards then on your own and there's a lot going through your mind.'
BreakingNews.ie
10-06-2025
- Sport
- BreakingNews.ie
Sarah Leahy determined to bring glory days back to Cork
Cork captain Sarah Leahy says she is determined to bring the glory days back to Cork ahead of the All-Ireland Ladies Championship. Having won 11 All-Ireland titles, Cork's last success came in 2016 as part of a team that won six in a row, with their most recent final appearance in 2020. Advertisement Cork dominated the sport by winning 11 out of 12 titles from 2005 to 2016. However, with no final appearances since 2020 and the team playing Division Two football this season, times have clearly changed. Having grown up watching Cork challenge for and win All-Ireland titles, Leahy says she now wants to create her own memories in the Cork jersey—memories the next generation can be proud of. "We all grew up with the role models we have in Cork winning the All-Ireland, so I think the dream for us is to get back there again. "Any team that you meet now is going to be a big challenge and very competitive. Advertisement "We have history playing both Kerry and Mayo. We are going to focus on ourselves—we know they are going to be difficult games." This season, Cork earned promotion from Division Two at the first attempt but fell short in the final against Galway at Croke Park. In the Munster Championship, defeats to Kerry and Waterford—either side of a win over Tipperary—meant they missed out on a place in the provincial final. However, this Cork side has shown it can bounce back from setbacks, having reached the All-Ireland semi-final last season despite being relegated earlier in the year. Another clash against rivals Kerry now awaits, along with Mayo, in Group Two. For Leahy, the league final defeat could be a valuable learning moment for the younger players in the squad. "We are very ambitious, and we have had those additional weeks to train and iron out a few issues. Ideally, we will be successful this year. "Especially for younger and new players on the panel, I think it was an invaluable experience in Croke Park. I think that will be really beneficial for us going forward, especially in the All-Ireland."
