CORK MIDFIELDER Daniel Kearney says this Saturday’s All-Ireland SHC final replay is a chance for the Rebels to give a better account of themselves on hurling’s biggest stage.

Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s young side almost snatched a 31st senior title for the county last time out despite never really hitting top gear at Croke Park against Clare.

The Sarsfields man admits the novel Saturday evening showdown is an opportunity to put the record straight.

“You can say that we played poorly, which I thought we did, a lot of our players just weren’t in the game and didn’t get the ball but credit has to be given to Clare that they didn’t allow us to do that,” he said at the Rebels’ pre-final press night at Páirc Uí Rinn recently.

“I know a lot of our players are just itching to go back out now and prove that they’re not as bad as they were against Clare that day.”

The first game against the Banner was a debut senior decider for vast majority of players on both sides. Did Kearney enjoy the experience?

“It was a brilliant day, but on the day you’re just trying to block everything out and trying to forget really that it’s an All-Ireland final in one sense. The more you leave that get into your head, you can totally freeze and leave the game pass you by,” he says.

“Looking back on it, it is a great thing but at the time it’s not in your head at all. The semi-finals give you good experience for that occasion. There is a bit more excitement but as a player you’re trying to block it all out and concentrate on what’s on the pitch.”

With the Ladies Football finals pencilled in for decision on Sunday, the GAA scheduled the replay for Saturday evening. Does the relatively late throw-in affect the preparation of the panels?

“I suppose it does throw it up in the air alright, we’re used to earlier times all the way. Maybe you can lie in an extra hour, I don’t know what to do. It’s not too much of a problem, maybe it’s more of a difficulty for the supporters rather than the players,” says Kearney.

Cork were moments away from lifting the Liam MacCarthy last time out despite Clare clearly playing the better hurling. Three times, the Rebels were dug out of a hole with goals.

“There was a lot of talk about Cork not getting goals,” Kearney says, “but we weren’t going out not to score them. We’re just trying to keep the scoreboard ticking over, if the opportunity for a point arises we’ll just throw it over.

“Maybe on [in the drawn game] we realised we weren’t playing as well as we could and we needed goals to stay in the game. The lads inside, in fairness, took it on and they went in, maybe we could have got one or two more.

“You don’t go out trying to get a certain amount of goals or a certain amount of points, if an opportunity opens up you go for the goal. Who knows, they might play a sweeper there the next day to stop that, it all depends on how the ball comes in and where it lands.”

Cork’s Daniel Kearney and Conor McGrath of Clare. Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

And will Cork think about Clare tactical possibilities?

“No, I think you obviously have to plan for the way they’re going to be set up but you can’t focus too much on them either,” the 23-year-old says.

“We knew that they could have just as easily gone 15-on-15, which they did, and it’ll be the same the next day. Maybe we focused even a bit too much on Clare before the last game and not enough on ourselves and how we needed to perform and bring the game to them. That’s something we have to do, attack them from the word ‘go’ and be more aggressive and take the game from them as opposed to waiting for them to come at us.”

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