IN THE absence of captain Darragh Fitzgibbon, who is recovering from appendicitis, Mark Coleman will lead Cork in Sunday’s Munster SHC final against Limerick at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

BY JOHNNY CAROLAN

The Blarney man served as skipper in 2022 and so is not likely to be overawed by the extra duties – in any case, he has been one of Ben O’Connor’s side’s leading lights as they have made it back to the final.

Cork became only the second team to go through a Munster round-robin campaign with a perfect four-from-four record and, in doing so, conceded just 3-84, the lowest tally allowed by any team since the system resumed after the Covid-impacted years of 2020 and 2021.

As impressive as the defending has been, Coleman is keen to impress on the fact that the lives of him and his fellow backs have been made manageable by the workrate from the Cork forwards.

‘It's probably something throughout the whole team, really,’ he says.

‘The forwards are working incredibly hard and stopping the ball coming in. I think just as a defensive unit, we're probably that bit more solid, I suppose, defending as a team.

‘For us in the half-backline, getting back and supporting the lads as best we can and just working more as a unit, but like I said, that starts up in the forward line and if they can stop the ball coming down, it makes our job a lot easier.’

Along with the tag of being poor at defending, Cork have often had to deal with criticisms regarding inconsistency – however, Sunday’s clash makes it six straight competitions in a row, beginning with the 2024 All-Ireland series, where they have reached the final.

‘Yeah, it's good,’ Coleman says.

‘I'm on the panel now a good while and for years it would have been thrown at us that we couldn't put two performances together, so to get to six finals is definitely a positive.

‘It's a short enough career that when you're playing you want to be going out and getting to finals and winning as much as you can. It's a short window of opportunity, so hopefully we can go out and do that.’

Mark Coleman.

In terms of the team’s journey, Coleman agrees that the 3-28 to 3-26 win over Limerick at the Páirc in May 2024 stand out as a ‘year zero’.

‘I just think as a group we were just so bought into the performance, what Pat (Ryan) wanted us to do that night,’ he says, ‘and we were so connected on the pitch, I think it was just a matter of all or nothing really.

‘We just really said, “Look, we'll buy into this here now for an hour and a half and see where we end up.” But other than that, being so connected as a group and just the crowd really. Just the absolute mayhem.

‘There was unbelievable support. There was no reason for us to get the support we got that night. We were off the back of two terrible performances. But yet the Cork public kind of believed in us and Pat believed in us at the time that there was still a kick in us.

‘Hoggie’s (Patrick Horgan) penalty went in and the place erupted. The sea of red on the pitch, it would be, when I look back on my career, one of the best nights to look back on.’

Ideally, Sunday would be a day to match it and Coleman anticipates another special occasion.

‘Yeah, it'll be massive,’ he says.

‘We've been fortunate to play in front of so many packed houses down the Páirc, but I'd say it'll be elevated again above that. It'll be an unbelievable atmosphere and it'll be a great game.

‘We always have a great game between ourselves and Limerick. They bring unbelievable support, like ourselves, so I'd say the whole city will be absolutely buzzing.’