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Hurling

Nicky English on Cork: "Their defence looked completely solid"

Cork sprang the first major surprise of this summer's Hurling Championship with a 1-26 to 1-19 wi...



Nicky English on Cork:
Hurling

Nicky English on Cork: "Their defence looked completely solid"

Cork sprang the first major surprise of this summer's Hurling Championship with a 1-26 to 1-19 win over Limerick on Sunday.

The All-Ireland champions were stunned as the Rebels produced an all-action display to get their season back on track.

Nicky English joined Monday's Off The Ball and he was caught out as much as anyone with Cork's win, telling Joe: "Hurling makes fools of us all. I had a lot of faith in Cork before 4 o'clock the previous Sunday and after the Tipperary match I had very little, if any, faith in them, to be honest.

"I thought Limerick's form would carry on from the league final - I thought Cork didn't show a whole lot of application etc. and that it was fairly clear cut that going down to [the Gaelic Grounds] and with the home game for Limerick that Limerick would come through that.

Cian Lynch of Limerick in action against Mark Ellis of Cork during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship. Image:Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

"You have to hand it to Cork - they didn't make changes during the previous game against Tipp when they were crying out to make changes but maybe the man they wanted at centre back was up in the terraces. And, Mark Ellis came in and did superbly.

"Eoin Cadogan's form continued as did Niall O'Leary at corner-back and their defence looked completely solid in the Gaelic Grounds whereas it as completely at sea the previous week.

"They brought Aidan Walsh into the forwards and while he didn't contribute a whole lot in the scoring sense - he was strong and abrasive and he won a lot of ball and manned up to the physicality of Limerick."

Limerick head to Waterford while Clare host Tipperary in the next round of the Munster Hurling Championship on the first Sunday in June.

Watch the full discussion with Joe, Nicky and Tommy Walsh here:

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Cork GAA Hurling Limerick Munster Nicky English