O'Sullivan looks back on defence's finest day

It was one of those rare annihilations of the great Kilkenny forwards. Each of them held scoreless from play in the second half, just two frees in the opening 11 minutes. The last 24 minutes with nothing. It was what ultimately won Cork their 29th All-Ireland hurling title. It was a defensive blockbuster.

And when Cork's best defender rates it as one of his finest days you know it must have felt good. Diarmuid O'Sullivan seems only slightly the worse for a night of All-Ireland celebrations and the memories of Sunday afternoon won't easily be forgotten.

"Well I suppose that was our best defensive display," says the Cork full back. "To hold that Kilkenny forward line scoreless from play in the second half was an absolutely incredible achievement. But every one of our backs were incredible, and John Browne when he came on.

"But it didn't stop there. The amount of times, say, Joe Deane and Brian Corcoran and Kieran Murphy blocked down and hooked and flicked away, that made our job a lot, lot easier.

"And I think it was always in the bag. Our game plan was to put them under pressure, and force them into shots they didn't want to take. And it worked, because they hit some aimless wides when we reduced them to shots from 70 or 80 yards."

Things didn't go immediately to plan, O'Sullivan admits Cork took their time to settle: "I felt we were nervous more than poor for that first 20 minutes or so. There were a lot of things playing on our minds from last year, but at half-time Donal O'Grady told us to relax, we could win the game.

"And for me the turning point would have to be Donal Óg Cusack's save. He also had the wherewithal to tap the ball five yards to me, and we went up the field, got a point and went four points ahead."

As he reminisces on Sunday's victory it becomes clear O'Sullivan won't easily find this moment surpassed. He won his first All-Ireland medal and an All Star at 21 but this one seems to mean a lot more.

"It was only when we started losing that we really began to cherish that victory in '99. This one is hitting home pretty much straight away, the fact that we are a bit older, and fully understand what it means to us.

"But I think what a lot us brought over last year was maturity. There were a lot of younger guys there last year, and I think there was some anxiety. We learnt to deal with the big day a little more. We weren't as rushed or as hurried, and that small bit of maturity on everyone's part worked a treat for us.

"I also think we're still building towards a peak, that this team is still quite young. If you add up the average age we're no more than 25. We're young enough and we're plenty good enough so it all boils down to hunger."

Yet no Cork player will cherish his second medal more than Brian Corcoran, still only 31 but coming off a period of retirement that would have finished off most intercounty players.

"Well, to be honest I wouldn't have come back if I didn't think they could win it . . . Nobody wanted to lose two in a row. A lot of people were talking about the three in a row, but the key factor for us was not being able to face another loss."

Corcoran's new role in the forward line meant he could appreciate defensive work being done back down the field: "Well I didn't see a whole lot of ball really. And I suppose my job is to create space and then get out of the way of the other lads. That's what I was trying to do on Sunday, to give Joe Deane and Kieran Murphy a lot of room in the two corners.

"It probably was our best defensive performance but I think going back to the second half against Tipperary our defence has been incredible. That was the turning point really."

The annual GOAL hurling challenge will take place tomorrow evening (7.30) in Páirc Uí Rinn when a Cork All-Ireland selection play county champions Newtownshandrum. It is expected captain Ben O'Connor will play the first half for his county, the second for his club. All proceeds will go to GOAL's relief operations in Darfur.