Cork hurling manager Pat Ryan watched his side stride into the All-Ireland SHC final with a 20 point demolition of Dublin, but still sees room for improvement as he targets a 'perfect' performance in the final.
The Rebels ran out 7-26 to 2-21 winners at Croke Park as Ryan’s men blew Dublin away with a second-half performance where they scored 3-13, restricting Dublin to 1-09.
Alan Connolly claimed a hat-trick while Brian Hayes and Tim O'Mahony both hit the net twice as the Rebels secured their place in the All-Ireland final for the second year in a row.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport after the game, Ryan admitted that he was pleased with the nature of his side’s victory but insisted that they will have to be better in the final if they’re to end their 20-year wait to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup.
"I’m delighted, we came up here to win, that was the key aim," he said.
"We knew we were coming up against a formidable team after the way they played (against Limerick) and we prepared really well for them.
"We knew the last three or four weeks have gone really well. We were disappointed by one or two injuries today that left us short but we did well.
"But having said that, there were still areas that we weren’t happy with. Our efficiency wasn’t good enough, our tackles from behind weren’t good enough and we gave away one or two sloppy goals that we weren’t happy with.
"That’s something that we’ll work on, everything needs to be perfect from now on. For an All-Ireland final it wasn’t perfect last year, so we need to be perfect in two weeks time.
"You just can't take the foot off the pedal. We will train really well over the next two weeks, that's our plan and we’ll hopefully will go one better we did last year."
Cork manager Pat Ryan still sees room for improvement, despite his side claiming a 20 point victory over Dublin in the All-Ireland SHC semi-final at Croke Park. pic.twitter.com/b6ZA16hGm0
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 5, 2025
Dublin rarely looked like repeating the shock victory they claimed over Limerick in the semi-final as Cork were comfortable throughout, but Ryan was unhappy with some of their play in the first-half.
He explained: "We just tried to get back to what we were doing. I thought we probably didn't take our scores and left a couple of wides behind us and they got a lot of short puckouts against us where we were chasing the ball.
"We just weren’t really tuned it. Fellas were looking to get scores as opposed to looking to get tackles, hooks and blocks."
Meanwhile man of the match Connolly – who ended his day's work with 3-02 from just six shots on goal – felt the Rebels’ lightning-fast start was crucial.
"Our goal was to have a good start and we got that," the Blackrock forward said. "We were a bit worried if it would dip going into half-time and it did a bit but we kept going. You look at the scoreboard and see it’s seven goals, we’re delighted with that win.
"We work it as a team. We [the forwards] stop the ball going in and they [the defenders] keep the ball coming in. Savage ball coming in, but everyone played their part."
When Dublin did threaten to work their way back into the game late in the first half, Connolly reckoned the Munster men’s solution was simple and effective. "We just scored a goal, like!" he told RTÉ Sport.
A massive Cork crowd made its way to Croke Park for a semi-final that played out in front of a packed house. The red jerseys in the stands proved an inspiration to the men wearing them on the field of play.
"It was a good performance, we’ve no doubt the Cork crowd will follow us again in two weeks’ time so we’re looking forward to that one," Connolly beamed.
Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship semi-final between Kilkenny v Tipperary on Sunday from 3.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1. Watch highlights on The Sunday Game at 10.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
