{"id":268536,"date":"2026-01-05T14:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T14:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/268536\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T14:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T14:55:11","slug":"new-cork-era-brings-new-options-for-free-taking-and-plenty-of-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/268536\/","title":{"rendered":"New Cork era brings new options for free-taking \u2013 and plenty of them"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Cork hurlers\u2019 Munster Senior League campaign getting underway on Wednesday, at the TUS Gaelic Grounds against Limerick (7.35pm), it\u2019s another opportunity to see how the early stages of Ben O\u2019Connor\u2019s tenure unfold and what changes will be made from last season under Pat Ryan.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor\u2019s first game \u2013 the Canon O\u2019Brien Cup clash \u2013 went UCC\u2019s way, with William Buckley scoring the wining point.<\/p>\n

But, of the team lining out in red and black, plenty there will have been watched as closely by O\u2019Connor as his own experimental Cork side.<\/p>\n

Few things capture that better than the question of what will happen to placed balls in a post-Patrick Horgan world for Cork.<\/p>\n

Ben Cunningham, who scored 1-10 (1-8 f, 0-1 65) for UCC without a miss from a placed ball, will be one of many in the conversation to take on the duties in 2026.<\/p>\n

Whether he becomes a long-term option for Cork will depend, first and foremost, on whether he can secure a starting role. That\u2019s something O\u2019Connor has made clear will be earned rather than assumed, for everyone on the panel.<\/p>\n

OBVIOUS INCUMBENTS\u00a0<\/p>\n

Declan Dalton and Darragh Fitzgibbon remain the most obvious incumbents.<\/p>\n

Both have carried the responsibility at inter-county level at various stages in recent seasons, Dalton often from range and Fitzgibbon stepping in whenever Horgan was absent. Against UCC, it was Dalton, Jack Cahalane and Colm McCarthy who shouldered the duties, each contributing from placed balls in defeat.<\/p>\n

Cahalane and McCarthy have been regulars on placed balls for their clubs, Cahalane scoring 5-25 (0-15 f, 1-0 pen, 0-1 65) in the league and 2-10 (0-1 f) in the championship for the Barrs, while McCarthy totalled 2-42 (0-27 f) in the league and 0-47 (0-33 f, 0-4 65) in championship as Sarsfields won the double.<\/p>\n

The side named to face Limerick will likely look very different to the one that started against UCC, particularly with the Fitzgibbon Cup now in motion. UCC\u2019s involvement means the absence of a significant cohort, forcing further rotation and further opportunity.<\/p>\n

UCC are in action against MTU on Thursday, January 8, so O\u2019Connor\u2019s side will not include Fr O\u2019Neill\u2019s goalkeeper Paudie O\u2019Sullivan, Eoin Downey, Cunningham, William Buckley, Brian Keating, Hugh O\u2019Connor and Timmy Wilk.<\/p>\n

\"DeclanDeclan Dalton of Cork and Bryan O’Mara of Tipperary tussle before throw in during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 2 match at SuperValu P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh. Picture: Brendan Moran\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

Only three players that started against UCC \u2013 Cormac O\u2019Brien, Ethan Twomey and Jack O\u2019Connor \u2013 featured across last year\u2019s senior championship. The rest were either on the fringes of the panel, or are newcomers entirely.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien was the only one of those three players to start or feature in the Munster final win over Limerick, and his previous championship experience leaves him well placed to regain a spot in the starting 15 under O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n

He impressed against UCC, as did Se\u00e1n Desmond and Cian Darcy, the latter of which also did well in Cork\u2019s challenge game against MTU in December.<\/p>\n

Of those named on the bench ahead of the meeting with UCC, all but Killeagh\u2019s Barry Walsh and Daire O\u2019Leary were part of last year\u2019s panel. Although O\u2019Leary ended up starting in the Canon O\u2019Brien Cup fixture, and has previously been involved with Cork.<\/p>\n

\"MarkMark Coleman of Cork in action against Kyle Hayes of Limerick during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship semi-final match between Limerick and Cork at Croke Park in Dublin in 2024. Picture: John Sheridan\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

Still U20-eligible, and already comfortable on placed balls, Barry Walsh comes in off the back of his first season playing senior for Killeagh, and his long-term development beyond 2026 will be of greatest interest to O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n

EXPERIENCE<\/p>\n

Mark Coleman and Shane Kingston have both been free takers for their club and county and are some of the more experienced players with Cork, while Robbie O\u2019Flynn, Alan Connolly and Tim O\u2019Mahony were all on placed ball duties for their clubs in the 2025 championship and are viable options.<\/p>\n

Jack Leahy and Brian O\u2019Sullivan \u2013 while neither will be viewed as immediate solutions \u2013 aren\u2019t complete outsiders either.<\/p>\n

Both are unlikely to come straight into the Cork team, but have got plenty of experience with frees. Leahy has been the taker for his club and division, while O\u2019Sullivan took on some of the long distances frees for Kanturk in league and championship this year.<\/p>\n

\" Colm McCarthy, Sarsfields, strikes the ball to score a first half goal against St Finbarr’s during the RedFM Division 1 Hurling League in 2025. Picture: Jim Coughlan.<\/p>\n

The free-taking role will likely be shared again for the Munster Senior Hurling League, with two or three players getting the nod in the National League, but there are many options for Ben O\u2019Connor to consider.<\/p>\n

Cork have huge depth in that area, and plenty of those options come from the newer faces added to the setup.<\/p>\n

For a team entering a new chapter, that can only be a healthy place to start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the Cork hurlers\u2019 Munster Senior League campaign getting underway on Wednesday, at the TUS Gaelic Grounds against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[1263,24,18,129,19,17,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-268536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-cork-sport","9":"tag-cork-gaa","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-hurling","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115843073642663726","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}