PAT Ryan believes Cork’s status as red-hot favourites will have no impact on their quest to end their 20-year wait for an All-Ireland crown.
Beaten finalists against Clare last season, Ryan’s side booked their place in another SHC decider, this time against Tipperary, with Saturday’s 20-point trouncing of Dublin.
One bookmaker paid out on the Rebels going all the way before the Championship even began.
Ahead of last month’s Munster final win against Limerick, the Cork boss dismissed the move as ‘a gimmick, a stunt’, insisting it was ‘wrong for a betting company to be doing that to amateur athletes, putting them under that pressure’.
And speaking after the defeat of the Dubs, Ryan said: “I think we’ve probably been favourites for lots of games all year, bar probably the Munster final.
“I’d prefer to be favourites because that means you’re doing something right. That’s the way I look at it.
“It’s up to the lads if we’re winning matches and 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. I’d say 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.”
From weather conditions to competition for places, Ryan reckons many factors combined to help Cork navigate the long road back to the biggest day of the year.
He added: “We knuckled down when we got back in. We probably refreshed the panel a bit more. We looked at areas that we didn’t do well as a management team — our S&C, physio, all that side of things that we could improve on.
“We spoke to players about that and really went after performances in the league, trying to make the panel as competitive as we could. It’s a small thing but the weather was much better this year so fellas were looking forward to going to training.
“If you’re not really involved in GAA or in teams, sometimes the weather you think is the same. But the weather this year was fantastic and it made a huge difference.
“We were in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Páirc Uí Rinn for an awful lot of the year and there was a great buzz about that. The year kind of flew.
“When you’re playing games, you just move from game to game and the competitiveness within the squad has made fellas step up their game a bit as well.”
TAKE YOUR POINTS AND GOALS WILL COME
That being said, Ryan sees plenty of room for improvement. For example, while their goal threat has been fundamental to Cork’s success, the boss felt they were sometimes too keen to feed their appetite for green flags.
He explained: “After we got maybe the first two or three goals, we probably pushed it a bit too much after that. We should have been building the score.
“We left maybe three or four points behind us that would have kept the score tipping away and would have kept maybe making it difficult for Dublin. Then we gave away two kind of soft goals, which we were disappointed with.
“But we came in at half-time and our lads were really focused. I thought maybe our work-rate was a bit down as well. They’re areas we’ll go after.”
OUTRAGEOUS O’DONOGHUE
On a day when Cork’s forwards showed their flair, Inniscarra clubman Seán O’Donoghue set the standards at the other end of the pitch with an impeccable defensive display in the full-back line.
The input of the 29-year-old came under scrutiny during last season’s Munster SHC. After his red card proved costly in the defeat to Clare, he was turned over for two goals in the defeat of Limerick.
It was a busy period on and off the pitch for O’Donoghue, whose partner Aoife gave birth to the couple’s first child a week before he captained his county in the All-Ireland final rematch with the Banner.
Ryan said: “I think sometimes fellas get a name into their head and they try and give them flak and then everybody jumps up on top of it.
“It’s happened down in Cork with different players through the years but we’ve no question about Seán. We see it every night in every training. He’s probably our best trainer, diligent, everything.
“He had a lot going on last year with the captaincy, having a new baby, building a house. All those things can take a bit of distraction away from yourself but he’s been brilliant for us.
“A great leader within the group. I’m delighted with Sean’s performances but he needs to play a bit better now again the next day.”
CAPTAINCY CHANGE
Ryan named O’Donoghue as captain following his appointment as manager. Rob Downey then took over the role for the 2025 season.
Asked if O’Donoghue has benefited from no longer carrying such responsibility, the Glanmire-born gaffer replied: “I wouldn’t think so.
“I don’t think it affected him in any way last year. It’s like everything, a lot of things go on. I thought he performed very admirably last year.
“But the key thing to Seán this year is that he had a clear run of injury. He’s in really good shape, played lots of matches and that’s the key for any player.
“As I’m still learning as I go in this job, injuries just dampen any momentum. Whether it’s a team or whether it’s an individual, injuries just dampen momentum. That’s given him momentum in every game.”
Cork will hold their All-Ireland final press event this evening. And Ryan confirmed that their plans for Sunday week’s battle with Tipp will not be interrupted by tomorrow night’s game between Cork City and Scottish champions Celtic at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
He said: “We’ll be back into the gym on Monday in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and back into the pitch on Wednesday. So that won’t affect our preparations in any way.”
SCORERS — Cork: A Connolly 3-2; P Horgan 0-8, 6f; B Hayes 2-1, T O’Mahony 2-1; D Dalton 0-5, 2f; D Fitzgibbon 0-3; S Kingston 0-2; D Healy 0-1, C Joyce 0-1, C Lehane 0-1, J O’Connor 0-1. Dublin: C O’Sullivan 2-5; S Currie 0-7f; F Whitely 0-3, C Burke 0-3; B Hayes 0-1, J Hetherton 0-1, D Burke 0-1.
