{"id":269275,"date":"2026-01-05T23:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T23:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/269275\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T23:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T23:55:09","slug":"steven-sherlock-on-bench-as-cork-reveal-strong-team-for-opener-against-tipperary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/269275\/","title":{"rendered":"Steven Sherlock on bench as Cork reveal strong team for opener against Tipperary\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Cleary has named a strong team for Cork\u2019s encounter with Tipperary as the Rebels begin their defence of the McGrath Cup tomorrow night in Cappawhite (7pm).<\/p>\n

The Leesiders have won this pre-season competition on the last two occasions. It didn\u2019t run in 2025 as there was a suspension of the pre-season games all over the country.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a very familiar starting 15 with Kevin O\u2019Donovan\u2019s inclusion a standout after his injury troubles in recent years.<\/p>\n

Bantry Blues stalwart Ruair\u00ed Deane will captain the team against a Tipp side who defeated Limerick in the first game in Group B last Friday night. Steven Sherlock has returned to the Cork fold after taking a break last year. He’s named on the bench.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"CorkCork manager John Cleary. Picture: INPHO\/Bryan Keane<\/p>\n

Cleary’s hands have been tied to a certain degree with regards team selection due to a number of factors including the Sigerson Cup getting underway. He isn’t able to use any players involved in Sigerson Cup games this week.<\/p>\n

There are three new faces amongst the substitutes with goalkeeper Darragh Newman coming into 2026 on the back of a great season with St Finbarr\u2019s as they won the McCarthy Insurance Group Premier SFC in 2025.<\/p>\n

Kilshannig defender Colm O\u2019Shea, a former Cork underage player, is on the bench.<\/p>\n

Finally, Denis O\u2019Connor of Knocknagree received a call up recently after his brilliant 2025 season with his club.<\/p>\n

They won the McCarthy Insurance Group SAFC crown for the first time with O\u2019Connor a regular scorer. He was joint seventh in the scoring charts with the forward also playing a crucial role in setting up scores for his teammates.<\/p>\n

Cleary, who is in his fourth full season at the helm, will be keen to build a strong panel for the year ahead with the start of the Allianz Division 2 league only a few weeks away.<\/p>\n

Cork\u2019s opponents in the opening game will be Cavan on Sunday, January 25 at SuperValu P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh.<\/p>\n

\"CorkCork have won the McGrath Cup on the last two occasions. Picture: Michael P Ryan\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

The Leesiders will be determined to have three competitive games before then. They will be fancied to defeat Tipperary even though the Premier County have a competitive game already under their belt.<\/p>\n

Cork will take on Limerick on Sunday in P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Rinn with the team that finishes top of Group B qualifying for the final on Saturday, January 17.<\/p>\n

The expectation is that Kerry will come through from the other group.<\/p>\n

\n CORK (McGrath Cup v Tipperary):\n <\/p>\n

Patrick Doyle (Knocknagree);<\/p>\n

Maurice Shanley (Clonakilty), Se\u00e1n Meehan (Kiskeam), Kevin O\u2019Donovan (Nemo Rangers);<\/p>\n

Brian O\u2019Driscoll (Carrigaline), Rory Maguire (Castlehaven), Luke Fahy (Ballincollig);<\/p>\n

Colm O\u2019Callaghan (\u00c9ire \u00d3g), Se\u00e1n Walsh (Mitchelstown);<\/p>\n

Ruair\u00ed Deane (Bantry Blues, capt), Se\u00e1n McDonnell (Mallow), Conor Cahalane (Castlehaven);<\/p>\n

Mark Cronin (Nemo Rangers), Chris \u00d3g Jones (Uibh Laoire), Cathail O\u2019Mahony (Mitchelstown).<\/p>\n

\n Subs:\n <\/p>\n

Darragh Newman (St Finbarr\u2019s), Daniel O\u2019Mahony (Knocknagree), Colm O\u2019Shea (Kilshannig), Matty Taylor (Mallow), Darragh Cashman (Millstreet), Steven Sherlock (St Finbarr\u2019s), Luke Murphy (Cullen), Brian Hurley (Castlehaven), Denis O\u2019Connor (Knocknagree).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Cleary has named a strong team for Cork\u2019s encounter with Tipperary as the Rebels begin their defence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[24,18,19,17,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-269275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-cork-gaa","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115845197193919073","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269275","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=269275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}