10 Things To Lift Your Negs After All-Ireland Final

22nd Jul 2024

It’s important to be magnanimous in defeat so fair play to referee John O’Mahony and his Clare team on winning the All-Ireland Final. Cork fans and players are gutted but time is a healer. It might be hard to keep your head up this week so here’s a few things to lift those negs...

1. We only lost the All-Ireland final by a single point. In extra time. And the ref didn’t call a blatant jersey pull on Flynnie that would have given us a replay. Remember the hiding in the 2021 All-Ireland final? Yeah, yeah, there’s no prizes for second place but being second is way better than not getting out of Munster for the last two years or being slaughtered in a final.

2. We have a squad brimming with young talent. Brian Hayes is lethal and Shane Barrett isn’t far behind him. The Downeys are unreal and just 21 and 23 respectively: not only did they shore up the middle of our leaky defence like two tall oak trees whose roots are made of Usain Bolt legs, they’re banging over points from distance too. And that goal Rob scored in the final was insane.   

4. Hoggie and Harnedy are still worth their weight in gold and should be in next year’s squad.

5. If Cork has a ‘special one’ then Pat Ryan is it. Notice that there isn’t a whisper about replacing him or the usual Bring-In-Davy tripe. Ryan knows his stuff and how to get the most out of the county’s best hurlers. Thankfully we’re not facing a winter of uncertainty about who the best coach in the county is.

6. We stopped Limerick doing a historic five-in-a-row thereby protecting the legacy of the famous four-in-a-row Cork team of the 1970s. And we beat them twice too. Unlike Clare.  

7. Hoggie has become the all-time highest championship scorer in the history of all the world. Nobody has achieved a higher score since The Big Bang. We’re lucky to be alive to witness him play. We should celebrate it.  

8. After years of everybody banging on about it, there hasn’t been a word about Cork’s lack of physicality this season. With the Downey twin towers at the back, Tim, Fitzy and Joyce in the middle and huge athletes up front like Dalton, Hayes and Barrett, we’re well able for the ‘big boy stuff’.

9. As a county, we love this team and turned out in massive numbers to watch them this summer. Losing the final is gut wrenching, but it got kids in Cork jerseys out hurling on greens in their thousands, the county was festooned with bunting and flags, Hoggie and the Boys were the talk of the town for the last month. If you stand back from it for a minute and forget about the final loss, it’s a beautiful thing.

10. We’re from Cork.