Kingston and Dalton fit to face Banner in the Páirc

WITH no new injury worries after Sunday’s loss to Waterford, Cork’s options will be increased as Shane Kingston and Declan Dalton return for this week’s clash against Clare. Both missed the trip to Walsh Park with hamstring problems but have been passed fit. With changes all-but-inevitable, manager Pat Ryan is keen to see a greater intensity from Cork and, ideally, a good start to avoid having to chase a lead.

‘That’s the objective all the time, really,’ says Cork boss Ryan. ‘They drove the tempo of that game and we never wrestled it back from them. Obviously, the key on Sunday, being a home game for ourselves, we’re the ones that have to come out of the traps. ‘We know that Clare are going to be hurting as well after their loss to Limerick. ‘We just have to be in the game way more than what we were and we didn’t play the game at a fast-enough pace either. ‘We were too pedestrian and that doesn’t suit our game. We didn’t move the ball fast enough and didn’t restart quickly enough – sidelines, short frees, anything like that needed to be done a lot quicker to get that intensity into the game and we didn’t do it.’ Cork can possibly take some solace from the campaign of their opponents in 2023.

In their first game last year, Clare were taken for five goals by Tipperary at Cusack Park but bounced back to beat Limerick, Waterford and Cork to finish top of the round-robin group and qualify for the Munster final. Hope is far from lost for the Rebels, though the need to win, especially at home, is a non-negotiable. ‘After the game, you had two teams on two points each,’ Ryan says, ‘and three on zero points, though I know Tipperary haven’t played.

‘It’s up to yourself after that in terms of where you go from here. Your home games are so key, you have to win them – winning away in the Munster championship is hard and that’s been the case with a while. ‘Our home games are our key games. ‘We’ve two coming up now, there’ll be packed crowds there and we need to get the Cork public behind us and give them something to shout for.’