CORK MIDFIELDER Jerry O'Connor had a blunt message yesterday for anyone who reckons Sunday's Munster hurling semi-final defeat to Tipperary was a sign of his team being over the hill.

"I'm sick of listening to crap like that, to be honest with you," said O'Connor. "And pardon the French. You had Seán Óg (Ó hAilpín) there last Sunday, a man with more hurling, and who's trained harder than anyone on the panel and he's still raring. You tell him he's tired or over the hill, and he'll tell you a different story.

"I don't believe that at all. We have some players 28, 29 alright, but John Gardiner, Ronan Curran, Tom Kenny, Brian Murphy, all 25 or 26. How can anyone realistically say they're over the hill? It's easy for the man in the armchair to write off players like that, but I think they'll be sorry at the end of the year.

"There comes a point when you have to be honest with yourself, and say I've nothing to give, but at the moment every one of that panel has something to give to the team. There's a lot more in us."

O'Connor was equally blunt when recounting some of the criticism he received in the aftermath of Sunday's defeat: "Any time you're criticised, no matter how small it is, can be a spur. I was walking off the field last Sunday, and all a Tipp supporter roared at me was 'you better go on strike again'. And just left then. Horrible comments like that will be kept in the back of the head for future reference, and by God, if we get another chance, hopefully we'll make people like that suffer."

"Any day you're beaten in the championship is hard to take. And for a few days after you've a knot in your gut, disappointment. But there's come a stage then when you have to look forward. Towards the end of the game, we'd a lot of bad wides. Points you'd expect players to take. So we have to take some positives out of it as well.

"It's easy to blame tactics, but no one went out to have a bad day, and unfortunately things went wrong. I've no doubt we all want to prove ourselves now."