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Cork looking to new generation to help bridge the gap to all-conquering Limerick

Former Patrickswell coach and current Cork selector Declan Fitzgerald believes the abundance of fresh talent at manager Pat Ryan’s disposal augurs well for the Rebel County

Pat Ryan: will try to integrate more of the successful Cork U20 players into the senior set-up in 2024 as the Rebel County seek to break Limerick's stranglehold on Munster and All-Ireland honours. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
Pat Ryan: will try to integrate more of the successful Cork U20 players into the senior set-up in 2024 as the Rebel County seek to break Limerick's stranglehold on Munster and All-Ireland honours. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
Paul Keane
Fri Jan 05 2024 - 06:00

Declan Fitzgerald can perhaps claim some of the responsibility for unleashing the monster that is Limerick hurling.

When Aaron Gillane, Cian Lynch and Diarmuid Byrnes won their first county title with Patrickswell back in 2016, Fitzgerald was pulling the strings as coach.

These days he’s a selector with the Cork seniors and, like every other intercounty management team, is wondering just how the Rebels might close the gap between themselves and Limerick.

The counties will meet again on Sunday, in Round 1 of the Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League, and while John Kiely may choose to rest Hurler of the Year recipients Gillane, Lynch and Byrnes, they will no doubt be central figures in the Shannonsiders’ drive for five-in-a-row this year.

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But back in 2016 did Fitzgerald see the Patrickswell trio becoming the behemoths that they have turned into?

“I suppose what you could see, even then when these fellas were only 20 or 21 years of age, you could see that these guys were going to be leaders because they were leading their club team to a county championship at 20 or 21,” he said.

“And they’ve gone on to great things since, there’s no doubt about it. The other thing was they were coming from a club with a great tradition so there was never a shortage of belief that they were going to win it. There was no having to convince these fellas that they could win a county title, that belief was already there.”

The funny thing is, only a few months after that Patrickswell triumph, at the start of 2017, Cork hammered Limerick off the park in that year’s preseason opener. Cork struck seven goals and, in the early days of Kiely’s reign, it was a significant setback for the Treaty regime with some supporters booing the Limerick players.

Seven years on, there’ll be no booing this Sunday, regardless of the outcome. Five All-Ireland wins since then has put plenty of credit in the bank.

Cork’s Ben Cunningham scores a point against Offaly in the All-Ireland U20 final last summer. He is one of a host of underage All-Ireland stars in recent years who has now progressed to the Cork senior squad. Photograph: Ken Sutton/Inpho
Cork’s Ben Cunningham scores a point against Offaly in the All-Ireland U20 final last summer. He is one of a host of underage All-Ireland stars in recent years who has now progressed to the Cork senior squad. Photograph: Ken Sutton/Inpho

It is a high standard that Limerick now set but Cork, despite failing to advance from the Munster group last summer, believe they can reach it.

If their Round 5 game last May had ended in a one-point win, instead of a one-point loss, they’d have advanced to the Munster final and Limerick would have been out. A remarkable thought considering how the season unfolded.

“It was very deflating,” said Fitzgerald of the loss. “Everyone had put in such a huge effort. We did so much right on the day and then there are areas we know we’ve to learn from as well.”

The really exciting thing from Cork’s perspective heading into the new season is all the options at the management’s disposal as they chase what Fitzgerald called the ‘fine margins’. Pat Ryan could go in any number of intriguing directions when picking his line-up for Sunday’s encounter in Mallow.

“We have guys coming off three different teams who have won All-Ireland U-20 titles in the last number of years,” said Fitzgerald.

“We have a number of lads from last year [U-20] that are with us now. Ben Cunningham has come through and Micheal Mullins and Brion Saunderson from last year’s team are there. Then you’ve got guys from previous [U-20] teams, the Tommy O’Connells and the Cormac O’Briens. I could name 10 or 12 others.”