Cork GAA Discussion Thread

No it doesn't mean cheating. It means that if you are playing and a ref has a particular way of reffing you work with that. One ref in Clare pulled everything if you batted a ball but hit the other players hurley from behind even if they had it up in the way. Others pulled for a chop if you came from the side. Another pulled for 5 steps while others only really pulled for five if you were going forward, going backwards or sideways you got a bit more leniency but you could pull hard as hell. There were refs you could talk to and others you would not.

Lads Rodgers and kelly waltzing through was a disgrace on yere part. Speaking from tipp when we were going well, paudie maher would have left those lads in a heap before any shot got off. Ye dont seem to have any enforcer in defence.

Look at our last team to win an all Ireland, you had lads like Sully and John Gardiner in it etc, lads who had that bit of ruthlessness, that bit of slyness and cunning in them etc.

The current Cork team lacks characters like that. They're a bit too nice. I felt Clare bullied us a bit yesterday, and we just allowed it to happen.

It was blatantly obvious after twenty or twenty five minutes that the long puckouts should've been abandoned as well.

The Clare backs were so efficient at shutting our forwards down, and at the other end their forwards had acres of space to operate in.

Oh make no mistake about it we have a lot to learn, and a lot to improve on both on and off the pitch if we're going to win an all Ireland.

We can blame it all on the referee but it won't get us anywhere. The bottom line here is that Limerick were possibly a bit off this year, but we failed to capitalize on and take advantage of that.

I just hope that just like 2013 we won't be spending the next decade ruing and lamenting this defeat.

He saw it unimpeded.

In fairness it's easy for you to say that! I did say yesterday that the Limerick reff wanted Clare to win. In hindsight i do regret that comment but feelings were very raw at the time!

Nonetheless i felt he had a poor game and allowed too many incidents go. Taking nothing from Clare, Cork have a lot to improve on ourselves but that's my opinion on the matter regardless.

You are spot on. It was said here that players shouldn't blame the ref when a huge call goes against them in a tight game. Of course they should be giving out if you lose an Ireland over it. The players are the ones putting in the effort to get there and their hopes and dreams dashed by a dodgy fat ref.

Horgan played the whole game with a hamstring injury. Admitted it today.

Whether he concealed it from Pat Ryan is not clear however.

Every player can be overrated when they play poorly. Even Tony Kelly was described as that by some before yesterdays final.

Believe me when I tell you there is no preference for Clare over Cork for a majority of the county!

I'd say Johnny Murphy would have been delighted to bring it to a replay as much as the general public. Shanagher gave him an excuse in normal time but O Flynn got away from his man despite the jersey pull and in Murphy's defence he probably would have expected that to go over and maybe watching the shot anticipating a score. An awkward one to bring back when it went wide.

When all is said and done Clare have won 5 of the last 6 games between them and we're perfectly primed for yesterday. They saved their season twice when they were on the brink of being knocked out in Munster Round 2 (23/24). They're just a bit further down the road in the school of hard knocks and it showed in their willingness to put their body on the line.

Cork are a lot better placed now than they were in 2013.

Clare were in the last three Munster finals and last three all Ireland semi finals as well. They are a more battle hardened team who've been to the well more often than Cork. I know some people in Cork thought that just because we knocked Limerick out that we'd beat Clare, but i never subscribed to that theory.

Yeah Cork are in a better place than in 2013. Back then we didn't have the players coming through from underage that we do now. That 2013 team was probably the weakest Cork team that played in an all Ireland final for years imo.

I agree with you there since 2013 we've had JBM, Kieran Kingston twice, John Meyler and Pat Ryan as managers and it's still an issue. A lot of it is to do with tactics and structure rather than playing personnel imo.

The two Downeys for example at full and centre back yesterday had great games, yet the Clare forwards had the freedom to do whatever they wanted.

Yep until that issue is resolved and until we toughen up the McCarthy Cup will not be coming back to the banks of the Lee!

Not sure you can be so sure.. the tug on the jersey was for a fraction of a second on the side away from the referee. I doubt he saw it, and if he did, he probably couldn't be sure. Same thing goes for the potential black card, they couldn't agree it on the Sunday game so how can a ref to so with confidence on one take of it.

You're spot on. Those 3 goals don't happen to Kilkenny a Tipp or a limerick.

1 maybe, not 3 like that.

Well I know Tony Kellys goal as good as it was should have not have that freedom to waltz in like that and use his hurley like he was waving a magic wand. They should have gone in on him heavy and do a Noel Hickey or Jackie Tyrell approach and hurt him that he wouldn't do it again. Take him out of it if needs be and concede a point but not a goal. It is almost identical to 2013 how we leaked the easy goals that killed us.

exactly

All I will say about the coming years, if the team are good enough they will get out of Munster and back into All Ireland final and go one better and win it. The 2004 team did that.

If it's a flash in the pan like 2013 then we are in big trouble. We need to bring more of the best u20 winning talent and go from there. Be ideal if Ben O Connor got involved in the coaching as well. Put a bit of hardness and dirt into them.

Goal scoring from Clare changed from zero goals in the (2013 Final) first match to 5 goals in the second match a few weeks later if these numbers are correct, whatever conclusions, if any, can be drawn from that.

Clare	Cork
0-25 5-16	3-16 3-16

You have to take the chances when you get there. That's 4 finals in a row lost now by Cork. And since 1990 we've only won the All Ireland 3 times. 3 times in 34 years. A shocking return for a county like Cork.

I agree we have lost 21 All Ireland finals in total. 6 since 1990. It seems to be an issue even before the strikes.

Losing by a point in extra time is not "clearly not working". Clare and Limerick would have been delighted if ye went short given the amount of mistakes ye make passing it around.

Cork were in a chasing position for a lot of the second half and in 2nd half of extra time.

The ref did miss things but not a whole lot that could be justified for the screams of robbed.

Clare if they were more clinical (look at their wides's) would have been much more ahead.

Better team won on the day. Cork really are a team that will definitely win an All Ireland Sunday just wasn't their day.

The trouble is that the longer you go without winning an AI (and the more finals you lose) the harder it gets to win it; just ask Mayo football supporters. We have lost four finals since 2005 now and that must get in the players heads.

I know players will say they will say they are not burdened by past final defeats but I'm not so sure, it must weigh on their minds. We are not quite at Mayo levels of final defeats yet but it is still concerning. After winning it in 1973 Limerick lost five finals in a row and nearly didn't win the 2018 final. They just squeezed over the line (deservedly). But if Canning had put over that late free who knows. We need to do that too I think (squeeze over the line) but we need it to happen soon.

On the subject of us hitting long puck-out's; the problem isn't the delivery, it's the fact that our forwards are not able to win it in the air often enough or if it is broken down, be the first to get possession of it. You can't rely on short puck-outs all the time; at some stage you have to be able to win a 50/50 ball from a long puck-out. We need a Fergal McCormack type player in the half-forward line. Kilkenny's forwards under Cody were unbeatable under the dropping ball.

Brian Hayes is 6 foot 4 and a major threat in the air but he is in the full forward line and anyway Lohan had his homework done on him last Sunday.

Looking at Cork's recent history with short puckouts Clare would have gotten even more if ye went short. Only difference is ye get turned over in even more dangerous positions.

Opposition fans are literally laughing at the clown show ye produce when ye start going short. Ryan realised Cork's only hope is to keep the ball down the other end as much as humanly possible.

1 point in 3 games would be poor. AC actually got 4 points in his last two games though - 3 against the then champions Limerick and 1 against Clare. But hey, don't let facts get in the way of your considered views......

Thats overly harsh but agree we need someone better in our starting 15. Hes a perfectly good squad player. Cant be captain though. He did some excellent things late on in the match but poor for the goals. He had a dodgy season generally