Harnedy always had faith that Cork would deliver

Rumours of Cork's 2022 demise have been greatly exaggerated, or so it seemed after Sunday's Munster SHC victory over Waterford.

The Rebels came to Walsh Park knowing defeat would end their year but a strong performance, assisted by goals from Alan Connolly in either half, saw them keep their fate in their own hands.

While they can't reach the Munster final, after Clare's draw with Limerick in Ennis, it means that a victory next week against Tipperary will see Kieran Kingston's men hurling into June.

For man of the match Harnedy, who notched five points in the victory over the Déise, it was a case of the squad finally delivering on their promise.

"I've fierce faith in this group," he told RTÉ's The Sunday Game afterwards.

"They're a young bunch. A lot of them have more accolades and All-Ireland medals at underage than I have, so I've always believed in this group.

Cork talisman Séamus Harnedy said he maintained total faith in their group with outside noises creating little disturbance. Cork emerged with victory over Waterford in Walsh Park this afternoon #sundaygame pic.twitter.com/sgKKwoyKKr

"Sometimes you just have to keep the outside out and we tend to do that. We heard murmurings coming down that we were outsiders, I don't know what it was...

"We knew if we put in a performance we'd have a chance and that's all you can do. Work ethic is the foundation and we brought that today."

Cork won't have much time to savour their victory with just a week before they meet Tipp at FBD Semple Stadium next Sunday.

Harnedy says they've put themselves back in contention to progress out of the group.

"It's the same thing we always do. We're going to reflect, take the learnings from this performance and bring it into next week, and hopefully