Last weekend's victory over Limerick could turn out to be a landmark occasion for hurling in Cork.
Long one of the biggest under-performers in the country, the way in which they overcame the reigning All-Ireland champions at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh will provide plenty of hope about what could be to come from the team over the coming weeks.
Cork certainly exposed Limerick in a way that not many other teams have managed in recent years.
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Joe Canning feels Cork might have found new Limerick weakness
Joe Canning has often been critical of Cork in the past, but he was massively impressed with their performance last weekend.
Writing in the Irish Times, he identified the aerial game as one way they got at Limerick, an area that not many teams had even attempted to exploit in the past.
I thought Brian Hayes was phenomenal. His touch for the first goal, when he got his hurley to a long puck-out, inside the Limerick D, and deflected it to Shane Barrett was unbelievable...
Cork went after Limerick in the air – which most teams write-off as an option – and Hayes was at the heart of that. He was the target for a lot of Cork’s long puck-outs and he kept putting his hand up...
From Cork’s point of view, though, this can’t be a one-off performance. If they lose to Tipperary on Sunday they’re gone from the championship.
This is something that other teams may look to replicate against Limerick moving forward.
As for Cork, they will need to quickly regroup ahead of their game against Tipperary this weekend. A loss in that one will undo much of the good work from the Limerick win, although another victory will put them in a strong position in the Munster round robin.
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