Gerald McCarthy’s current Cork side suffered a second wide-margin defeat of the National Hurling League Division One campaign at the hands of local rivals Tipperary on Saturday night. The Cork panel of 2009 have now conceded 6-29 in two NHL games to date, underlining the extent of the task facing McCarthy as he ploughs ahead without the entire 2008 panel. The full-time scoreline was more than a little unfair to Cork, who had battled gamely throughout at Semple Stadium and in Barry Johnson had the game’s top-scoring player. There were just three points between the sides at the break (0-7 to 0-4) and it took Tipp until the final quarter to grab their first goal, with John O’Brien finding the net.

Dublin powered past an inexperienced Cork side in front of a crowd of only 2,000 in Sunday's Allianz NHL clash at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, winning by three goals, 4-14 to 1-14. While 12,000 turned out to march in support of the senior players on the streets of Cork on Saturday, those who showed at the match tried their best to get behind the Rebel youngsters. And the Dubs wasted no time taking advantage of the situation flying into a four-point lead thanks to an Alan McCrabbe point and a goal by John Kelly, who hammered the ball past Cork keeper Alan Kennedy. And things got worse for the home side as Dublin corner forward Liam Rushe grabbed two quick goals to lead 3-2 to 0-04. And the Dublin teenager should have bagged his hat-trick before half-time but Kennedy pulled off a great save to keep the score down.

As many as 12,000 supporters thronged the streets of Cork on Saturday afternoon in a public show of support to the county’s hurling panel. Several players attended the rally, which cranks up the pressure on the County Board and under-fire manager Gerald McCarthy. The four-month-old dispute rested on the reappointment of McCarthy for a further two-year term, and the crisis deepened significantly on Thursday when the Cork football panel announced that it would go on strike at the end of the NFL campaign if no resolution had been found. Against the backdrop of such unrest, McCarthy’s current hurling panel - which has been labelled as a "fourth team" in some quarters - begin the 2009 National Hurling League campaign against Dublin at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

We have been monitoring the current conflict between the Cork Senior Hurling Panel 2008 and the Executive of the Cork County Board for a number of months. We feel it is now time to clarify our position, which is that we fully support the stance taken by the 2008 hurling panel. We confirm our unanimous agreement to withdraw our services as of the end of the National Football League unless a resolution is found to the satisfaction of the 2008 hurling and football panels. We believe that Mr. Kieran Mulvey’s Arbitration findings were an ideal template for the Executive and the players to begin working together for the benefit of the GAA in Cork and to help repair relations that have been damaged in the past.

It is regrettable that there has been serious misrepresentation of the sequence of events in relation to the appointment of Gerald McCarthy as Cork senior hurling manager for this and next season. We outline below the county committee’s position on these events. We realise it is quite detailed but we hope it will be some assistance. In brief, the county committee is satisfied that it adhered fully to the terms of the Mulvey arbitration of last year including two players being on the 2008 appointments committees and the managers appointed having the right to pick their own selectors.

Gerald McCarthy has named his starting XV for Cork's opening National Hurling League match against Anthony Daly's Dublin on Sunday. The team sees five representatives from county champions, Sarsfields, while the Bride Rovers duo of Barry Johnson and Michael Collins have also got the nod from the besieged Rebel boss. Glen O'Connor, from the famous St Finbarr's club has been named at midfield with his clubmate Eoin Keane set to wear the number five jersey as Cork set out on what could be a long, long league campaign. CORK (SH v Dublin): A. Kennedy (Sarsfields); E. Clancy (Fermoy), C. Murphy (Blackrock), C. O’Sullivan (Sarsfields); E. Keane (St Finbarr’s), R. Ryan (Sarsfields), C. Leahy (Sarsfields); B. Johnson (Bride Rvs). G. O’Connor (St Finbarr’s); T. Óg Murphy (Sarsfields), A. Ryan (Midleton), D. Crowley (Bandon); A. Mannix (Kilworth), M. Collins (Bride Rvs), E. Cronin (Glen Rvs). Subs:C Cronin (Lisgoold); A Kearney (Midleton), J Moran (Carrigaline), G O’Driscoll (Newcestown), Tony Murphy (Carrigaline), R O’Driscoll (Sarsfields), Paudie Lynch (Kilworth), C O’Leary (Blackrock), Cian McCarthy (Sarsfields).

Sharper Cork eased to victory over Meath in the biting cold at Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday. The home side had the points practically wrapped up at half-time, when they led by 1-7 to 0-2 having played with the wind. Meath failed to rally on the restart and the outcome was a foregone conclusion long before the end . Referee Syl Doyle showed three yellow cards to Meath players, defenders Kevin Reilly and Shane McAnarney and midfielder Brian Meade, all for second black-book offences. Cork mastered the experimental rules without any undue bother, right-halfforward Conor McCarthy the lone player to come to the referee’s notice for a foul which earned him the black book. Meath’s Joe Sheridan fisted wide in the seventh minute when he had more time than he realised.