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Understandably, Cork coach Kieran Kingston was “much happier” with his Dublin team’s spirited dismissal at Semple Stadium, compared to their loss to Waterford the previous weekend.
“I thought our performance was really good, I thought the pace of work was really good, the submarines we brought in gave us a boost. In a compact championship like this, you go from club championship to intercountry championship, so it takes a little time to get there.
“We have a lot of tired guys there, five or six guys with cramps, so it’s good that they come and help us.”
Kingston said the players had responded well since the Waterford loss: “Easy to say now, but the attitude in practice during the week was really good.
“The players were hurt, hurt by what was said and written, and there was no discussion with it, you deserve what you get.
“The guys were really disappointed in last Saturday’s performance, and today doesn’t take away from any of that, it was what it was and we were hugely disappointed and upset about it.
“There was a buzz in training during the week that I think we took to the field today in terms of work pace, attitude and ball use, they were really good.
“It puts us in the draw. Let’s not get carried away, this gets us into the draw and that’s all it does, but it gives the boys another performance, another championship game. ”
Defender Sean O’Donoghue was injured.
“We will have to evaluate (him), it’s a bit early yet. Darragh Fitzgibbon and Alan and Eoin Cadogan – unlikely to be available for next weekend. Alan hurt his quad during the week so it is unlikely he will be available for the weekend. ”
On the bright side, Kingston could point to the excellent performances of Robbie O’Flynn and Mark Coleman.
“It is well documented where Cork stands in terms of national hurling titles: 22 years since the league, 15 since All-Ireland, so I knew to return to the role that this would be a process.
“We have 16 guys on the panel who are 24 or younger, 13 23 or younger, nine of them started and that excludes Darragh Fitzgibbon and those players.
“So it’s a very young team and panel in many ways. Games like this will help them greatly to develop. We had two debuts in the championship, Robbie had not played since he was suspended in the league, and they were fantastic, as was everyone else we featured before and during the game.
“Mark’s launch speaks for itself and we all know what it can do. He was free to move through the mid-back line and we pushed him out and back. He is an outstanding player, he showed it last week and again today ”.
Cork will be out again next week, of course.
“Recovery is key now,” Kingston said.
“Some guys got cramps, so we will have recovery, a good session on Wednesday and we will have them as fresh as possible for the weekend.
“Obviously we would love to have more time. That’s not passing the ball in any way, the ball stops with me, but the more preparation, the more work you can do.
“The nature of the county championships in Cork meant that we had less than three weeks with the boys before the Waterford game. Nine of the guys that played today had county finals about four weeks ago, we had to give them a little time off so we’ve had three weeks or so with them.
“There is a huge difference in intensity between those club games and the county games, and it takes a while to adjust to that.”
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