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 02 September 2004 Irish Examiner | |||
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CORK hurling captain Ben O'Connor gave the GAA's groundsmen some much needed respite from all the recent criticism when he stuck up for the Croke Park playing surface yesterday.
"In the hurling there doesn't seem to be any serious injuries really. They (injuries) all seem to be in football which is a much more physical game with a lot more banging of the bodies, so I don't know whether you blame it on the field.
"Personally, I don't find it any problem. I wear the six-stud boots that are recommended and I don't think it affects my play in any way," said O'Connor.
O'Connor is focusing his attention on beating Kilkenny on Sunday week and was in Dublin yesterday along with Kilkenny skipper Martin Comerford to launch Toyota's sponsorship programme.
Both men are likely to wear the No 10 shirts when they line out in opposition on September 11 when passions are sure to be running very high. However, yesterday gathering was a relaxed affair.
This year's decider will be the first in which both teams came through the back door and Comerford and O'Connor are in no doubt as to the galvanising effect early defeat had on their respective seasons.
O'Connor takes up the story from a Rebel perspective: "The main thing was the Tuesday night after the Munster final when we went back training.
"We were after getting a lot of abuse so we just decided we could either forget about last Sunday and get on with it or finish up for the summer.
"We knew we weren't as bad as people made out. They were saying it was the best Munster final of all time but we got beaten by a point and suddenly we were the worst team that ever played for Cork and Waterford were the best team that ever came out of Waterford!" laughed the pacy wing-forward.
Comerford remembers a similar post-game meeting in Nowlan Park after their dramatic loss to Wexford.
"We were told after the Wexford match to remember the feeling and we'll just have to draw on our disappointment to drive us on on Sunday week.
"It was a strange feeling for me personally. I was hanging around the panel in 2001 when Galway beat us so this was a bit of a first for me.
"The way that game worked out was strange. We were a point or two up when Wexford got the goal and we didn't even have time to puck the ball out and the final whistle blew."
Sermonising and banging fists in the dressing room is all very well but it is out on the field that hurlers clear their heads and both men can pinpoint the game when their season really got going.
"We drew Tipp in our first game after losing to Waterford and I suppose that was one of the tougher of the first round draws but once we beat Tipperary we knew we were back in with a chance," recalls O'Connor, who says the subsequent easy wins over Antrim and Wexford were useful for giving young players experience of Croke Park.
"In that way it was good but as for tough competitive matches, Kilkenny have had those, so we'll have to see if that is of any help to them.
"We won't know until after the match but I don't think it will be (an advantage to Kilkenny) because both teams are after the same five or six-week lay-off now so it's down to how fellas are going in training."
Kilkenny's turning point came further down the Qualifier route, according to Comerford.
"The first ten or 15 minutes against Clare in the replay was huge for us.
"We were trying to combat Clare's seven-man defence which might be common in football but had never been seen in hurling before.
"We learned from where we went wrong the first day and our backs concentrated on avoiding Clare's extra man and picking out one of their own forwards when coming out with the ball.
"We have grown closer since then but we'll just have to see how things go on Sunday week."
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