Impossible as it is to isolate one reason behind the reversal of fortune for Cork hurling over the past year, goalkeeper Anthony Nash reckons a large part of it is down to the new ethos of the team.
Sunday’s Munster final win over Clare continued their fast rising stock, although they’re not finished yet with last year’s unceremonious qualifier exit to Wexford is certainly not forgotten either.
“I suppose in a little way, last year was the motivation, but one thing we’ve tried to do this year is change the ethos,” says Nash. “Work as a team and learn from the mistakes we made last year.
“I don’t think last year was a project or anything like that, we trained hard every day and Wexford beat us fair and square. I think that was more of an outside thought. In our own group, we never felt that.
“We’ve seen how good they (Wexford) are this year and we just didn’t perform. People will write about this, that and the other, but we are just focussed on the next game. I know it’s not what people want to hear and it doesn’t make great news.”
With the county minors also winning on Sunday, Cork hurling is certainly at its best place since 2014, when they last won Munster: “2014 was unbelievable, and the last game at Páirc Uí Chaoimh,” added Nash. “But you can’t really put the two of them together. This year, we had to beat Tipperary, Waterford and the winners Clare and Limerick, so I suppose we went the hardest route
“We had a few positives last year. People asked me after the Tipp match ‘what’s the big difference?’ We trained just as hard, but things went our way this year. That’s all we are trying to do this year, get in hard work, and see where it takes us.”
Kilkenny hurling, meanwhile, can expect some usual silence from Brian Cody before making up his mind on whether or not to continue for what would be his 20th season as manager. Saturday evening’s defeat to Waterford in the qualifiers was the first time Cody has failed to take the county into or beyond the quarter-final stage, but already the indications are he has the appetite to come back for more.
It is however considered unlikely that Cody will face any disciplinary action for an incident in Saturday’s game, where he appeared to lay his hands on the fourth official, Wexford’s Justin Heffernan, when contesting a sideline ball.
