‘Hurling, and all that goes with it, is way down the list when it comes to situations like that’

“It was a strange occasion in some ways. What happened in the last 24 hours, you see the sadness in our players. It is important for us on behalf of Cork hurling to extend our sympathies and condolences to the immediate and extended Shefflin family in what is a terrible tragedy.

“Hurling, and all that goes with it, is way down the list when it comes to situations like that.

“It did of course impact the game. It was flat at times but in saying that, we know Galway are a really top side and we know our record against them in the last decade isn’t good. We knew no matter what Galway team was going to come down tonight, it was going to be very competitive. Albeit, we did not hit the heights we hit last week.” 

Galway selector Richie O’Neill said he was proud of his players.

“These fellas are hurling all their lives and that is what they know and what they do. The message we would have had is life is for living. When something like this happens, life is for living. You just say, go out and express yourself as best you can.

“To come down here and get 23 points against a team of Cork’s calibre who have been flying in the league – and 18 wides which really hurt us – was really strong. You would be going home saying, for the events that went on, you would be really proud of them.

“They applied themselves really well, they behaved really well. You would have loved the result to go the other way. The goal (Patrick Horgan’s) was probably the killer score, we could never get back the three points and Cork always had that cushion.”