Cork manager Pat Ryan says his team are embracing the pressure. Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
How do you handle the burden of expectation that accompanies being a Cork hurler in 2024? Your county is in the midst of a 19-year All-Ireland famine, a Rebel record of non-achievement. But you have just lowered Limerick’s drive for five in a semi-final for the ages. You are one win away from erasing almost two decades of hurt. A Rebel nation expects…
“I don’t think you do protect them; I think you just have to embrace it, to be honest with you,” says Pat Ryan, the manager who has led Cork through an emotional roller-coaster of a campaign to Sunday’s Croke Park final against Clare.
