DENIS Walsh acknowledged that, in light of the well-documented hurling crisis in Limerick at the moment, Cork were in a no-win situation at the Gaelic Grounds last Saturday night. "It was a difficult game for us, because, irrespective of how well or how badly we performed, we weren't going to get any credit.

" We were expected to beat Limerick easily, and the lads probably weren't clued in enough which was the reason why they lacked a bit of urgency at times. I was disappointed by that, to be honest, but the bottom line is that we got the job done, and, as in the game against Offaly, we put a big score on the board which was very encouraging."

Cork's 'big score' included 1-5 from play by Michael Cussen, and Walsh made no attempt to conceal his satisfaction with the way the big fullforward measured up in his first full league game. "Michael made a big impression, there is no question about that, and, with his height, mobility, skill and scoring ability, I believe he can be a fair handful for any full-back.

"I felt all the comparative newcomers fared out reasonably well, but it wasn't an especially consistent performance from the team as a whole. I think the lads are fully aware that they didn't play to their full potential for long stretches of the contest, and, while it could be argued they were never under any real pressure, it could have been a different story had Limerick made better use of their chances in the first half."

Cork will play a challenge game against Clare in Fermoy on Saturday night, and Walsh is hoping it will be a big help in terms of tuning up the team ahead of the next league encounter with Kilkenny. "There is nothing like a game against Kilkenny to sharpen the mind, and we will have the Newtown lads, who will be back training with us this week, available for that, and I hope they are in good form."

Team skipper Fraggie Murphy said the return of the Newtown players will be a big boost. "Obviously, we would have preferred to see Newtown involved in the All-Ireland club final, but it's great to have Ben, Jerry and Cathal back on board for the Kilkenny match.

"Everybody is looking forward to it already after what happened last year up in Nowlan Park Kilkenny were ruthless, and maybe our pre-season problems came against us big-time on the day. We have the chance to make amends now, and Kilkenny down in Pairc Ui Chaoimh is the type of game that we really want to play in at this stage. We will train hard for it, and we can only improve on the 27-point defeat we endured 12 months ago."

Murphy accepts that the display against Limerick won't suffice if Cork are to have any chance of skinning the Cats. "It was hard to get our focus right tonight, because we were hearing talk all week that we should be hammering Limerick.

"We were very sloppy at times, especially in the first half, but we improved after half time, and Cian McCarthy came in to get a goal which allowed us to finish in control. The good thing is that there are a few players in contention for every position on the team which hasn't been the case for the past few years.

"What Denis ( Walsh) is doing is building competition within the panel, and everybody knows they will have to fight for a place on the championship team. That's the only way to have it, and there will be no shortage of intensity in next week-end's challenge game in Fermoy against a Clare side that won't be getting regular games against top teams in Division 2, and will be keen to show what they can do against us."

- Noel Horgan