Christy O’Connor

16 hours ago | echolive.ie | Christy O’Connor

Every inch counts, everything adds up, but when the scrap for those crucial gains descend into the last desperate charge on the sporting field, every inch lost resembles a mile more than a metre. Although Cork were excellent against Dublin last weekend, they still came up short when it mattered most - especially when compared to Dublin’s game management in the last quarter.

4 days ago | echolive.ie | Christy O’Connor

When Peter Queally spoke to the media in the aftermath of Waterford’s defeat to Cork in May, he was beaten down by more than the result and Waterford’s elimination from the championship – Queally was also weary of everyone in the county having trodden the same path too often. Queally became animated when the conversation turned to the championship structure.

1 week ago | echolive.ie | Christy O’Connor

For a brief period towards the end of the second quarter in last year’s Clare-Wexford All-Ireland quarter-final, the match combusted into a blaze and, suddenly, anything looked possible. And then, almost as quickly, that feeling began to fade and all hope of a contest had been extinguished early in the third quarter. Clare were by far the better side but circumstance still altered the direction the game took.

1 week ago | echolive.ie | Christy O’Connor

It was more of a trickle on the O’Moore Park pitch at the final whistle compared to the tsunami of red on the Gaelic Grounds seven days earlier, but the sense of euphoria and elation amongst the Cork players and the small band of loyal supporters in the ground was just as authentic on Saturday evening in Portlaoise. Cork ground out a win, repelling Roscommon’s late charge for a two-pointer that would have kept them in the championship and knocked Cork out.

2 weeks ago | echolive.ie | Christy O’Connor

Before Cork played Roscommon in the 2023 All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final, Cork’s recent record against the Connacht side was a concern with Roscommon having won their four previous meetings. One of those games, their 2019 Super 8s clash, was a dead rubber but Roscommon still came to Páirc Uí Rinn and turned Cork over. Roscommon had also beaten Cork in the 2022 and 2018 league campaigns, while they walloped them in the 2016 league in Páirc Uí Rinn by 18 points.