John Gardiner has urged caution and rationality upon Cork fans still ecstatic after the Rebels’ first win over Kilkenny in six years on Sunday.
A strong Cork side were 0-18 to 1-13 victors over a Cats team missing a number of big names in NHL Division 1 at Pairc Ui Chaoimh on Sunday and Gardiner has pointed out that his side still struggled to finish them off, even after they had Michael Grace sent off before half-time.
Gardiner reverted to his more familiar position of wing back for the game, having played in midfield earlier in the season, but still scored 0-7 as Cork made it three wins from three. He says that record could quickly go out the window though and said Denis Walsh’s side need to be improving all the time.
"Everyone will be roaring and shouting about the performance but we’re not going to take much out of it,” the Na Piarsaigh talisman was quoted as saying by the Irish Examiner.
“Any day you beat Kilkenny is a good day but we have another league match next week (against Waterford, away), we know we’re going to have to improve."
Cork, with their senior stars not long back from their strike, were beaten by 27 points when they faced Kilkenny in the league a year ago and Gardiner says that loss was in players’ minds, but also knows that Sunday's slight revenge will mean little to Cork fans if they spend another year in championship wilderness and Kilkenny go on to win five All-Irelands in a row.
"I suppose it was brought up a small bit,” he added of the Nowlan Park mauling. “Last year wasn’t a true reflection of Cork and we wanted to show that. We’re just trying to put in a competitive performance and we’re happy enough with the way it went.
"The win was important but it’s a league match, it’s March, both teams are in heavy training, they were missing a few, we were missing a few. Yes it means two more points on the board but we’re not getting carried away, we’re happy to move on now."