Future Cork Hurlers

[North Cork]

We will see some young players added to the squad in 2025 and probably see some players on the periphery of the 2024 squad leave.
However, if a slightly older player is to break into the squad they need to offer something different or something better than what is already there.

There are few, if any, who can do that.
Colin O Brien does have the benefit of being a huge man, which is always useful, he is well known to Pat Ryan already but my fear is that he lacks a little pace.
Certainly I think he is best placed to break into the squad from outside.
Of course I do not know if it is a burning ambition of his to commit to Cork. Not everyone is prepared to make the sacrifice.

 

[Grasshopper]

Timmy Wilk, hasn't had a great spell with the U20's I think injury hampered him, he's lacking a few inches of height for Half Back, but I wonder could he be coached up to play as a corner back

 

[Killyoursons]

Timmy Wilk, hasn't had a great spell with the U20's I think injury hampered him, he's lacking a few inches of height for Half Back, but I wonder could he be coached up to play as a corner back

Wilk will be U20 again next year. Exciting player alright, but I'd rather he got a clear run at that level first before going in with the seniors. Hopefully it's an advantage for him that Furlong has worked with him before.

 

[Gymbird]

Daire O’Leary wgh, Jake Carr fermoy and Leon doocey castlelyons I noticed are not named and should be looked out for in the club championship all good players

 

[hurley68]

Daire O’Leary wgh, Jake Carr fermoy and Leon doocey castlelyons I noticed are not named and should be looked out for in the club championship all good players

Are you fu.king serious?

 

[North Cork]

Daire O’Leary wgh, Jake Carr fermoy and Leon doocey castlelyons I noticed are not named and should be looked out for in the club championship all good players

Daire O Leary is a strange one.
At under 20 he seemed to be on the same trajectory as Joyce.
Remember him at full back in the senior team against Limerick in the league at the Gaelic grounds and I think he was probably not even 20.

He suffered a lot with injury and has never regained the promise he showed.

He is however only 23 this year so he has plenty of time.

 

[Thistlecrack]

Championship Hurling Manager is in full effect.

 

[red&blue]

Daire O Leary is a strange one.
At under 20 he seemed to be on the same trajectory as Joyce.
Remember him at full back in the senior team against Limerick in the league at the Gaelic grounds and I think he was probably not even 20.

He suffered a lot with injury and has never regained the promise he showed.

He is however only 23 this year so he has plenty of time.

He was a great prospect put on too much bulk the year he got injured and it slowed him down too much

 

[Corkonian1]

Killyoursons

My point is young or old age is only a number, it doesn't matter if one is in early 20's, mid-20's or mid-30's, it is down to being good enough or becoming good enough. I don't know why you'd be so concerned as Colin is coming from captaining the Fitzgibbon Cup winning team and has held his own playing among plenty senior inter-county hurlers in this regard, being part of an inter-county panel with game time will speed up his hurling even more. If he hadn't played Fitzgibbon or he'd not been hurling for a while I would understand your concern. Therefore it's up to the management to give him the opportunity to see does he have what it takes. If you'd like to see Colin given a shot you shouldn't be giving me hypothetical lines why he shouldn't, you would have proposed him and backed him in this forum like I've done. The 'very few' conception wouldn't concern me either, Stephen White, Brian Lawton, Aidan Walsh, Dean Brosnan and Stephen Moylan off the top of my head fit the category in recent years but there are loads before going back the years.

The thread is based on new players and if you confine it to the U-20 players over the last 2 years then based on the way this management have operated we are looking at them on an extended development panel. Shane O'Regan should not fit this category and either should Daire Connery or Colin O'Brien. By the way O'Regan is on the Echo's team of the week.

Cork's woes based my prediction that Cork would have to be 7 to 9 points a better team to defeat the top teams by a point or 2 and it has been the case, I've seen nothing that will change my mind for next year. One player may have only played in all 4 AI defeats but the core of this group only tasted defeat in AI finals which is at least 2 and then you add the league final you mentioned.

 

[Killyoursons]

Corkonian,

You seem to be just ignoring my point about O'Brien's age, so I won't restate it. I would say that while his performances in the Fitzgibbon are one of the reasons I think he should be looked at, those matches are played in the winter on heavy pitches, so his holding his own there does not give me much confidence that his hurling would be of the speed required come May. A comparison might be with Sean Twomey, who did massive work with UL in the Fitzgibbon in 2023 but who has struggled to reach anything like that level in championship hurling.

You suggest that I should have backed O'Brien on here like you did - for the little it's worth, I posted on here after his v first campaign with Mary I, when they lost the Fitzgibbon final to UCC in 2018 I think, that he should be brought in to train with the senior squad.

I don't want to confine the choice of new players to the U20 teams from the past couple of seasons, but there are probably only going to be a limited number of squad places available next year and those teams have between them at least half a dozen excellent candidates.