Limerick’s ‘shock and awe’ display put paid to that – and to the credentials of everyone else on the Cork team.
“Ah no,” says Downey. “For me, I suppose they were two separate events in my head. At that stage I was after forgetting about the All-Ireland final. We were after playing a couple of games since then. He won the Fitzgibbon Cup in his first season, two years ago – the last time it was played – and next Wednesday, UCC take on Limerick powerhouse, Mary Immaculate College of Education in their opening 2022 fixture.
He doesn’t necessarily support ring-fencing college players from their county teams during the Fitzgibbon season but acknowledges that having his college coach and intercounty manager – Tom Kingston and“It’s a hard one. I probably think it would put too much pressure on a given team. With UCC, we’d have a lot of players on the Cork set-up, so that would put Cork under fierce pressure for the league.