It’s fair to say the Cork hurlers have endured a frustrating start to their season.
Ever since getting off to a flyer with an opening round victory over Kilkenny in Páirc Uà Chaoimh, it’s been downhill.
Fast forward three more games and John Meyler’s men have suffered disappointing losses at the hands of Wexford, Clare and Waterford.
It’s far from panic stations, but they haven’t even rose a gallop in any of those those games which saw them comprehensively outfought and beaten by their rivals.
In fairness, they’ve been blooding some new, young and inexperienced players. They’ve been missing some of their more senior panel members like Conor Lehane on occasions, Alan Cadogan and a few others through injuries, but that shouldn’t be used as an excuse. Other counties, like Tipperary and even Kilkenny have been doing the same but to a much greater effect.
Cork’s youngsters just haven’t shown as well.
What will also concern Meyler is the lack of scoring forwards in the county. They’ve been over-reliant on Patrick Horgan to keep the umpires for quite a while now, and from what we’ve seen so far, that looks set to continue.
Brendan Bugler was speaking on Monday’s GAA Hour Hurling Show. The Clare man sounded his worries for the county based on their performances to date.
“The worrying aspect if you’re a Cork supporter would be their lack of scoring forwards in the league. They’re over-reliant on Patrick Horgan.”
A host of young players fired Cork to the Munster title last year. These lads just haven’t kicked on and have showed signs of second season syndrome so far this year.
“Last year, Shane Kingston, Coleman and Luke Meade were all playing really well at this time of the year. They just haven’t hit them heights that they hit last summer.
“They need to spread out the scores. They were headless in a lot of the stuff they were doing.”
Bugler also took aim at their number one, Anthony Nash. The former All-Ireland winner with Clare feels the Kanturk man is wasteful with possession – with this trait coming to a head against Waterford last Sunday.
“Anthony Nash is a great goalkeeper, but for all the good he does, he wastes an awful lot of ball as well. They were down a guy as well, and a lot of the ball he got he was just lumping it down on top of two spare Waterford men. That killed Cork.
“I would be worried if I was a Cork supporter at the moment. I don’t think they’re going in the right direction. They don’t seem to have unearthed any more forwards. It’s really worrying times.”
You can listen to this chat on the Cork hurlers and so much more from Wooly, Bugs and JJ on Monday’s GAA Hour Hurling Show right here.
