Pat Ryan has hailed Cork's Diarmuid Healy for his performance in their National Hurling League final victory over Tipperary, praising the wing forward for his 'resilience' after the passing of his friend Darragh McCarthy.
Midleton hurler McCarthy passed away in March after falling from the upper story of student accomodation in Cork, and was a 'good friend' of Healy's having gone to college together in MTU.
Healy announced his talent when scoring a remarkable 1-5 from play against Kilkenny in his starting debut for the team in mid-March but was only introduced with five minutes to go in their subsequent games against Clare and Galway.
The Lisgoold man returned to the starting fifteen for Sunday's decider against Tipperary and left imprints of his class all over the contest, scoring 0-2 and setting up a goal.
Healy has won All-Ireland minor and under-20 championships with Cork, having also stood out for Imokilly as they won the county title this year.
Healy came on as a sub against Tipperary in their league clash back in February, and Ryan says he always knew he was a big player coming through, before praising him for honouring his friend.
"We knew Diarmuid was a very good player coming through," the Cork manager told TG4 after the game.
"Obviously he's shown great resilience, with a bit of sadness in his own life over the last couple of weeks.
"We pay tribute to Darragh McCarthy, who passed away, he would have been very good friend with Dudsy, and a great hurler himself.
"In fairness to Dudsy, he honoured his friend there today in his performance."
The late McCarthy was described by his club Midleton after his passing as "a young man of great character and presence who was a credit to his family and our club."
“Our focus remains on remembering Darragh as a player, friend and clubmate and supporting his family over these most difficult times," they said.
Ryan said building Cork's strength in depth was the key focus of this league, with the emergence of players like Healy and Cormac O'Brien ensuring they were successful in that regard. But he critcisied his team's second half performance, descirbing it as 'probably the worst second half performance since I've been involved in 2023. '
"We've taken the league very serious in terms of our squad and how we want to produce players and make our squad stronger. When you come down to Páirc Uí Chaoimh, you want to win every match," Ryan added.
"That was probably the key to our league, managing to remain unbeaten at home and when you get to the league final, the best preparation for championship in two weeks time is to win your matches."
"We were very good in the first half but I'd say that's probably the worst second half performance since I've been involved in 2023. Very disappointed with that second half.
"That's the standard we're trying to get to. That's the standard the Clares, Limericks and Kilkennys and all them are getting to. That standard won't be acceptable in Ennis in two weeks time.
"It's good in one way, it gives us something to go after the lads for and look to be honest with you, it was fairly deflating in the second half (seeing that.)"
