Cork fell to a narrow, heartbreaking 1-13 to 1-12 defeat at the hands of Kilkenny yesterday in the All-Ireland camogie final yesterday at Croke Park. Former manager Paudie Murray appeared on The Sunday Game last night following the match and spoke about where it all went wrong for his former side.
Murray questioned the tactical approach from the Cork management team and singled out their use of a sweeper in the loss to Kilkenny.
Paudie Murray said:
"I think the biggest issue this year is, they went with a sweeper and it puzzled me. Because I think if you look at our six backs, I think we had pace enough to counter any of the opposition. So, when you're taking a players from your forward line, you're always going to be in trouble in your forward line then.
"Also, I would have liked to see Sorcha McCartan and Chloe Sigerson out the field and maybe putting the likes of Amy and Catriona on the edge of the square because their pace is going to trouble any opponent so I just think the mix wasn't right and it was that way for the year really."
'I think the biggest issue this year is they went with a sweeper, it puzzled me' - All-Ireland winning Cork manager Paudie Murray assesses their approach in 2022 #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/2Dwkef7sR9
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) August 7, 2022
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Paudie Murray led Cork to four All-Ireland titles during his decade at helm, and left the post last autumn. He'd have an intimate knowledge of the team, and his criticism of the tactics deployed by Matthew Twomey and his assistant Davy Fitzgerald were intriguing. He would go on to say:
"I thought that after the semifinal they would have learned from their mistakes and they haven't but I think all year and I've watched all their games this year, you know I've been very puzzled with the way they've set up. It's taken them a long time for them to get into the game, they go back and they change their system and all of a sudden they take over.
"I suppose the disappointing part for me is, coming into the final, I thought they would have looked at their mistakes, rectified them, but they didn't."
Cork trailed early to Waterford in the semifinal only to claw their way back into the game, and eventually win.
Reflecting on Kilkenny's one-point win over Cork, @ElaineAylward says they've proven "there's no such thing as transition", while ex-Cork boss Paudie Murray assesses what went wrong with the Rebels, saying he was "puzzled" by their approach #TheSundayGame pic.twitter.com/UF3aBpbnEp
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) August 7, 2022
Davy Fitzgerald joined up with the Cork camogie coaching ticket this year after nearly being named Galway manager. After the defeat, Davy Fitz confirmed that he has left his role as assistant manager of the Cork camogie team and has been heavily linked with most intercounty hurling vacancies, as is custom.
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