User:rorynoonanDate:13/03/2013Time:09:02:31Edition:13/03/2013Wedwedecho130313Page:56Color:

EE - V1

SPORTEvening Echo

IN SPORT TODAY

See all oftoday’s racecards:

P34-38

HURLING

Soccer: All the news fromthe local leagues: P40-47

GAA: Cleary wary of takingKerry for granted: P53

By JOHN HORGAN

Cork supportopening upGAA stadiums

O’Connell readyfor Heineken CupTHERE was a good newsinjury story in Irish rugbyfor a change after PaulO’Connell came throughhis first 40 minutes ofaction since October asMunster A overcameLeinster A 24-17 at theUL Bowl yesterday,

.The second rowunderwent surgery onNew Year’s Eve to correcta back injury and wasn’texpected back until April.Not for the first time in his

career, O’Connell hasshown great healingability and returned foryesterday’s clash fourweeks ahead of schedule.“I’m injury free and theHeineken Cup is definitelyon for me,” he said.Munster’s tries came fromRonan O’Mahony andDanny Barnes, with JJHanrahan adding threepenalties.● More rugby P49-51.

DELEGATES at the lastnight’s Cork CountyBoard meeting havevoted to allow GAAstadiums be used for theRugby World Cup, if theGAA’s central councilgives it their approval.Motions for the upcomingannual GAA congress inDerry on Friday andSaturday week were onthe agenda, and mostnotably delegates backedmotion three, allowingcentral council the powerto authorise the use ofCroke Park and otherstadia for any RugbyWorld Cup bid in 2023 or2027.Given Cork’s oppositionto opening up Croke Parkto other codes whenAviva Stadium was beingbuilt, their support for thismotion would suggestthere will be national GAAbacking for the RugbyWorld Cup.The proposed rulechanges were voted onas well, with the newblack card rule ondiscipline rejected, as wellas extending all adultfootball games to 35minutes a half, and the

mark.There was support thoughfor the clean pick-up ofthe ball from the groundin football, and the use ofa public clock ala ladiesfootball.Delegates also endorsedmotion 53, to bring theAll-Ireland finals forwardby two weeks to free upmore time for the clubgame. This was broughtforward to lastDecember’s conventionby former Cork and Nemostalwart Derek Kavanagh.Pat Joe Connolly (BantryBlues) and Christy Ring(Glen Rovers) wereelected as delegates tocongress, which takesplace in Derry.The first round fixtures forthe county championshipswere also finalised, mostnotably theBallincollig-Douglas (8pm)and St Nick’s-Barrs(6.30pm) SFCdouble-header at Páirc UíRinn was pushed back aday to Saturday, May 4.● See more GAA onP52-53.

CORK COUNTYBOARD

RUGBY

PAUDIE O’SULLIVAN be-lieves thatCork’s battlingdraw with Waterford inatrocious conditions atthe Fraher Field lastSunday will benefit theteam considerably overthe coming months.

Cork trailed the home team byeight points at the interval, butthey responded magnificently tosecure what might turn out tobe a very significant point in thechase for a place in the knock-out stages of the league.“I think the way that we came

back in the second-half after be-ing 0-10 to 0-2 behind at half-timeshowed that there is a lot ofcharacter in the squad,” O’Sulli-van told the Evening Echo.“The conditions were the

worst that I have ever experi-enced in the league, and wereally had to dig in and grindout something. Maybe that wassomething we had been accusedof not doing in the past, diggingin when our backs are against

the wall, fighting to getsomething and we had to do thatlast Sunday.“We could have got the win

when we went two points up butcoming from where we were athalf-time, we were happy withthe point, especially after An-thony Nash had made two bril-liant saves at the end.’’Now if Cork find themselves

in a similar situation going for-ward, the ace Cork attacker be-lieves that they can draw inspir-ation from last Sunday.“Definitely, it will have given

the players belief that we arecapable of turning thingsaround in a game if we find

ourselves a good bit down at aparticular time.“We’ll be able to say to

ourselves that weturned thingsaround before andthe way hurling isnow it can changein an instant.When StephenMoylan got thatgoal in Dungarvanyou could feel awave of mo-mentum com-ing behindus. And wecertainlywon’t be pan-icking if wedo findourselvesfive or sixpoints

down later on in the year.”O’Sullivan believes too that

the introduction of so many newfaces to the squad is just whatthe more experienced membersrequired.“The lads who are there a bit

longer know they have to per-form every night in training.Those new fellas are champingat the bit, they want our jer-seys, they want to be in the

starting 15 so that cer-tainly lifts your owngame.”● See more GAAon P52-53.

Battling drawwill stand toRebels later

Ruby blows theopposition aside with

a Hurricane startRuby Walsh celebrates on board Hurricane Fly afterwinning the Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy raceduring Champion Day at Cheltenham Racecourseyesterday, on an opening day that saw him take threeimpressive wins. Picture: Getty Images

O’Sullivan sees real character inCork’s performance against the Déise

Cork’s PaudieO’Sullivan thinksthe draw againstthe Déise willstand to theRebels later.