BY JOHNNY CAROLAN
AFTER a 20-point semi-final win puts you in a position to end a 20-year wait for the All-Ireland, how do you dampen down the hype?
You don’t, according to Cork manager Pat Ryan. Instead, you acknowledge it without getting carried away on its waves.
‘Fellas need to enjoy the two weeks,’ he said.
‘We're amateur athletes. There's going to be a great buzz around Cork, you embrace it. Unfortunately, we can't go away to Dubai for two weeks and relax and chill out and prepare outside there.
‘Fellas have to go back to work, they have to meet their colleagues and all that side of things, or school or whatever they're doing. But, look, we'll enjoy the next two weeks and the county board can look after the problem with tickets!’
Since Cork last won the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 2005, the county has been in the final four times but this is the first occasion where they have managed to follow up a losing appearance by getting back to the decider at the first time of asking.
Are there any lessons to be learned from 2024 against Clare and a one-point defeat after 90 minutes of hurling?
‘You have a bit more knowledge around what you're doing,’ Ryan said, ‘but, to be honest, I think we got an awful lot right last year in what we were doing, that wasn’t the reason we were beaten.
‘I think we came up and we performed, I think we were 1-7 to three points up after 15, 20 minutes. So, fellas would say, should you have slept in this hotel? Or, should you have done this or done that? I always look at that, at the start of that.
‘So, our performance – we just came up against a brilliant team last year. It took an awful lot of us last year in the semi-final to perform against Limerick and you were never probably going to hit that height that we needed to.
‘We were coming up against a brilliant team in Clare that probably didn't hit the same heights in the semi-final and then hit a bigger height in the final than us.
‘We were really proud of our lads last year, really proud of the way they dug down. Our job now is to make sure that we get focused back in, fellas get recovered, fellas are ready to go.’
Cork will be favourites against Tipperary on July 20th but that’s something that is outside of Ryan’s control.
‘To be honest, I think we've probably been favourites for lots of games all year,’ he said, ‘bar probably the Munster final.
‘What I always say about favouritism, I'd always prefer to be favourites because that means you're doing something right.
‘That's the way I look at it, you're doing something right and it's up to the lads. If we're winning matches and we're playing well and performing well, you're going to be favourites.
‘But, as we know ourselves, it doesn't make a difference what the bookies are going to do. You have to turn up and perform. We were favourites probably for the All-Ireland final last year with the bookies and we didn't win.
‘It's just about being focused on ourselves and making sure that we're ready to go.’
