Relatively Speaking

The boulder has been rolled back, but what did we find?

A little bit of everything, I suppose. It certainly wasn’t empty, anyway. There were a few skeletons scattered around, there were a few ghosts lurking in there too, there was what may be in future declared a miracle, there was a hell of a lot of needle and, more than anything, there was a feeling that we’ll have to head much further into the darkness before we can shed any light on what we saw.

The merit of the point that Cork has on the board after the opening round of the Munster Hurling Championship has fluctuated severely in the aftermath of the game with Clare, it will fluctuate even more as the week develops. Its worth is really a case of relativity.

Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity implies that massive objects, like Peter Duggan, warp the fabric of space-time which, in turn, manifests itself as gravity. It alters our interpretation and understanding of time. Hence, the first half in Ennis flew by and the second half felt like it would never end.

On the road to Ennis, we all agreed that if a point was offered; it would have been taken. We were, after all, heading into the Lion’s den. Clare has been better than Cork for the past few years. They are the All-Ireland champions. They had been focusing solely on the visit of Cork for six weeks. It was expected to be an incredibly close game.

At half-time in Ennis, the idea of coming away with a point would have been considered a disaster of a cataclysmic nature. Because Cork was sensational for most of those thirty-five minutes. They dominated the game in every way, and you would have thought that the buffer, coupled with Patrick Collins’ save from Duggan, would have ensured that the missed goal chances would not be lamented.

Then there was the arrival of a few ghosts after the interval, an interval that Cork, once again, for some reason, prolonged. The bandage on Robert Downey’s knee wasn’t the best of omens, and Aidan McCarthy’s goal meant that the initiative was just handed to Clare on a plate. David Reidy’s goal then got the collective stomach churning. Cork, however, answered the challenge well. They scored six of the next eight points to go nine clear and from there, bar a disaster, the idea of going home with a point would have seemed crazy.

Then came the disaster as the skeletons of Cork’s past indiscretions came back into view. The red cards brandished in our opening two group games last year nearly derailed the entire campaign. Here was another spanner in the works. In real time, standing in line with the incident it looked to me that Shane Barrett was just trying to break free from being held and maybe the incident sums up the Hobson’s choice that faces Cork when it comes to matters of physicality, or manliness or whatever you want to call it.

Cork has a reputation for being quiet, timid, soft, easy to get at. Lovely hurlers but when the going gets tough… Do nothing, and that image prevails. Why don’t they have that edge that all great teams have? And then, if Cork goes the other way, if they try and stand their ground, they’re accused of losing their focus, of letting the niggle get to them, of getting involved. There are untouchables in the hurling world, players who can do what they want without public reproach or criticism. Not many, one at most, reside here amongst us. It’s such a delicate balance to strike, as of now, maybe it’s not being struck.

Speaking of balance. Cork’s panel is in a good place at the moment. However, when the bench is turned to, the balance of the team seems to go out of kilter. Last year, for instance, this was true when Seamus Harnedy and Declan Dalton were withdrawn. It was the case in Ennis again after the red card. There are players of significant value on the bench, but that value isn’t being seen when they cross the line, yet.

Still though, a couple of points from Cork’s two best players on the day – Tim O’Mahony and Brian Hayes – and Cork were eight clear with five to go. We were expecting a lot of injury time, but once they didn’t concede a goal, and managed to get a couple of more scores themselves, the idea of a point for their endeavour would still have been disappointing.

Then came the goal. Whether Duggan is a black hole, or a revelation is relative, but the fact that it came with so much time remaining opened up all types of possibilities. Then Cork started missing. There was the difficult Dalton free, the Hayes one that just went the wrong side and finally a brilliant hook from Ryan Taylor that denied Brian Roche his second of the day. Clare, by contrast, couldn’t miss as they used the extra man brilliantly and continued to drag the Cork half back line far from home.

As the time passed by agonisingly, and the margin reduced accordingly, the value of a point began to increase. And when David Reidy put Clare ahead, what would you have given for Cork to salvage a point? And when David McInerney caught the puck-out? Ciarán Joyce earned the point, Declan Dalton took it, and that was that. For the second time in succession, Cork and Clare couldn’t be separated after seventy(ish) minutes.

For the supporters, the postmortems began. For the team and management, preparations began. The round-robin format doesn’t allow them to think too much about it all. They just have to try and learn what they can and move on to the next challenge.

That challenge was significant before, it is all the more so now. A buoyant Tipperary will be coming to SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday. A young team who drew with Limerick, who have a rejuvenated John McGrath at the edge of the square, who have the experience of a packed Páirc in their locker from the league final, and a manager who has a long record of tormenting us.

Therefore, it is only at around 6:00pm on Sunday that the real value of that point in Ennis will begin to be revealed.

John Coleman