'If you're a Cork man, you have to win an All-Ireland' - Pat Ryan ready for ultimate test after masterminding Limerick's downfall

Just under two months ago, Cork were four points down against Limerick with four minutes to play and heading out of the Munster championship.

They turned it around that night in The Park and defied all predictions by beating the four-in-a-row champions for the second time on Sunday to reach the All-Ireland hurling final.

The predictions of others, of course. Cork remain second on hurling's roll of honour and there were supporters confident enough – along with Limerick’s - to sell out Croke Park for the first time in a hurling semi-final.

They haven’t brought Liam MacCarthy home in 19 years, and have lost three finals in that time, but manager Pat Ryan - a winner as a panellist in 1999 - knows better than to try to dampen expectations now.

"When I got into the job, fellas asked me what would be success," he told RTÉ Sport. "If you're a Cork man, you have to win an All-Ireland. Simple as that. If you don't do it, it's not success.

"And look, there have been fellas before me that have done fantastic things and got to All-Ireland finals and have been very unlucky in those days. But we judge ourselves in Cork on winning All-Irelands so we need to get back to that.

"The crowd that was up here, there’s going to be fantastic excitement in Cork over the next two weeks and there's going to be fantastic excitement in Clare. It's going to be hard to keep the hype down in both counties. There hasn't been a different champion since 2019.

"It would be impossible to quell it down in Cork, to be honest with you. We get confident after winning a tiddlywinks match. So from our point of view, it'll be just minding it from ourselves.

"And look, it's hard. Fellas are amateur men. They're going into schools, they're going into work, they're going into