'Next two weeks are about the shoulders up' says Liam Sheedy

Brian Hayes was awarded the man of the match trophy following the Rebels' victory over Limerick. Hayes hailed the team's increase in intensity in training and admits they had a below-par performance in the knockout rounds so far.

What boosted them ahead of today's semi-final was memory of their two-point win over Limerick in May.

"We had the two games, the quarter-final and the preliminary quarter-final, and we felt that we didn't perform the way we wanted to.

"We just hit the ground running in training and we knew that we had it when we beat Limerick the last time," explained Hayes.

Hayes hails intense internal games for their improvement and is hopeful that more of the same during the two-week wait will improve their chances of their first All-Ireland victory since 2005.

"We are firm believers that our hardest games we are getting are internally. Our 'A' v 'B' games are hopping every night and we need to drive that the next two weeks again hopefully," adds Hayes of their training approach.

With the window between the semi-final and the final reduced to two weeks, there is less time to lose your head. But the Cork management have enlisted the help of mental skills coach Gary Keegan to give their players the edge.

Keegan has worked with with Irish Rugby since 2020 and gained his status as the go-to for high performance during a stint at the Irish Amateur Boxing Association that increased the medal haul from none in Athens in 2004 to three in Beijing in 2008.

Hayes credits Keegan with the mindset change and ability to bounce back after narrow losses.

"We believe 100% in our own team. That's testament to Gary Keegan, we do a lot of work with him, we had that belief regardless of the results and getting pipped at the end, we just