‘Next two weeks are about the shoulders up’ – Sheedy

Brian Hayes was awarded the man of the match trophy following the Rebels’ victory over Limerick. Hayes hailed the team’s increase in intensity in training and admits they had a below-par performance in the knockout rounds so far.

What boosted them ahead of today’s semi-final was memory of their two-point win over Limerick in May.

“We had the two games, the quarter-final and the preliminary quarter-final, and we felt that we didn’t perform the way we wanted to.

“We just hit the ground running in training and we knew that we had it when we beat Limerick the last time,” explained Hayes.

Hayes hails intense internal games for their improvement and is hopeful that more of the same during the two-week wait will improve their chances of their first All-Ireland victory since 2005.

“We are firm believers that our hardest games we are getting are internally. Our ‘A’ v ‘B’ games are hopping every night and we need to drive that the next two weeks again hopefully,” adds Hayes of their training approach.

With the window between the semi-final and the final reduced to two weeks, there is less time to lose your head. But the Cork management have enlisted the help of mental skills coach Gary Keegan to give their players the edge.

Keegan has worked with with Irish Rugby since 2020 and gained his status as the go-to for high performance during a stint at the Irish Amateur Boxing Association that increased the medal haul from none in Athens in 2004 to three in Beijing in 2008.

Hayes credits Keegan with the mindset change and ability to bounce back after narrow losses.

“We believe 100% in our own team. That’s testament to Gary Keegan, we do a lot of work with him, we had that belief regardless of the results and getting pipped at the end, we just believed and believed and thankfully got it over the line at the end there today.”

It was a frantic last ten minutes as Limerick looked to claw back the seven-point lead the Rebels had gathered, they got back to within two after a run of four but Cork’s mental skills were clearly superior thanks to their work with Keegan.

Liam Sheedy is familiar with Keegan’s work having partnered with him for Tipperary’s 28th All-Ireland Championship winning run in 2019. Pat Ryan will be hoping Keegan has a similar effect on his squad in 2024.

Sheedy is well used to preparing teams for All-Ireland finals and acknowledged during the panel discussion that mental game is more important that physical during the two weeks.

“The next two weeks are about the shoulders up there is not much you can do in the way of physical preparation.

“It was interesting that Brian Hayes mentioned Gary Keegan, Gary was with me in 2019… you could see they were primed and they were ready today, I think he will be used a bit, I know he is with an Irish rugby team.

“The danger with an All-Ireland final is that it’s an occasion… finals take on a different slant,” added Sheedy.

Declan Dalton acknowledges that there is work to be done during the two weeks to the All-Ireland final if they are to challenge Clare.

“We have a good two weeks ahead of us yet, we have to drive on, we are not done yet. Clare put up a good performance yesterday, so that’s going to be no easy task against them either.”

Like Hayes, Dalton admits earlier games were below par but is pleased with the bounce back.

“We weren’t good enough in our own heads against Offaly and Dublin so look we have to drive each other on in training and put ourselves under a small bit of pressure in training and today came out and got it over the line and only a two point win.”

Dalton compares the Cork rise to success as similar to his club side Fr O’Neill’s, who lost narrowly in the All-Ireland final in 2020 by one point. The County team now have Keegan that has helped them to remain resilient and get wins over the line. Which could make all the difference against Clare in two short weeks.

“It’s a building process and same as this Cork hurling team, it’s a building process and we just need to keep building and getting better.”