Ben O'Connor Makes Honest Admission After Cork's Galway Defeat

Ben O'Connor admits Cork know exactly what is coming after their disappointing All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Galway.

Having surrendered a five-point first-half lead before eventually losing 2-26 to 1-18 at Croke Park, Cork's season ended in painfully familiar fashion as Galway dominated the second half to book their place in the All-Ireland final.

The defeat was another bitter blow for a Cork side that had looked well placed after Alan Walsh's first-half goal, only for Galway to overwhelm them after the interval.

A blistering run of nine unanswered points put the Tribesmen in complete control before Darragh Fitzgibbon's second-half red card effectively ended any hopes of a comeback.

Ben O'Connor Makes Honest Admission After Cork's Galway Defeat

Speaking afterwards, O'Connor admitted Cork are expecting plenty of criticism in the days ahead.

There'll be a lot of fellas who will have all the answers and we'll get that.

We'll get a few letters during the week telling us where we're all going wrong, we'll get a few phone calls, a few messages.

We'll take that and we'll drive on.

Despite another painful championship exit, O'Connor insisted he remains optimistic about the direction of the team.

I'm a glass half full kind of fella.

That's done and dusted.

We'll be sick for that for the next few days, next couple of weeks, maybe even until Christmas.

Once the boys get back going again, that's all forgotten about and we're just driving on.

Cork supporters, however, have seen similar stories unfold before.

Having also faded badly in last year's All-Ireland final and struggled after the break in this season's Munster final, questions will inevitably be asked about why Cork were once again unable to match their opponents physically and tactically in the second half.

O'Connor, though, rejected any suggestion that work-rate has been a recurring issue.

We've outworked teams as well this year.

On days these things will happen.

This hasn't happened all year, we've been fairly good on the work side of it all year.

The challenge for Cork now is ensuring Sunday's collapse proves an exception rather than becoming another chapter in an increasingly frustrating trend of big-game disappointments.