Last year, Cork’s Ciarán Joyce was in the position many Tipperary players will find themselves on Sunday.
As he lined up behind the Artane Band for the pre-All-Ireland final parade, the Castlemartyr defender was about to play in just his second game at Croke Park.
The nerves and the pageantry had to be set aside for what he describes as, regardless of the result, “one of the most enjoyable matches I’ve played in”.
Having been through that experience, the 23-year-old feels the Rebel squad can use those lessons to their advantage.
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“It was all a new experience for me. It was only my second time playing in Croke Park. Playing in front of big crowds as well, it was a small bit new to me,” says Joyce.
“I suppose the Limerick game was like an All-Ireland final as well. But as a young fellah, you’re always learning too.
“I feel like this year we’re definitely better equipped. We’ve been through it all and we’re fully ready for it now.”
Joyce doesn’t subscribe to the idea that you have to lose one to win one. After all, they could’ve so easily got over the line last year.
“Even though we did lose, the game itself, the occasion, and the build-up, it was unreal. It was some experience to play in. And we took a lot of learnings from it too.
“As young fellas, what you dream of is to play in an All-Ireland final and to be playing there then, it’s unreal.
“But you also have to treat it like it’s just another game. You can’t let the occasion get to you; the whole parade and all the side pieces that are different for an All-Ireland final.”
The ticket requests have been offloaded to his parents, the hype is blocked out, and Joyce’s “laser focus” is trained on the 3:30pm throw-in.
It helps that the agricultural science graduate is working at home on the family farm with his father, who knows better than to bring up hurling during their small talk.
“There’s no days off there. He won’t give you any,” smiles Joyce. “It keeps me grounded anyway. I love it.
“I’ll farm for the rest of the summer anyway, and I’ll look into maybe getting a job there at the end of the year. But in the future, I do hope to go home dairy farming. That’s the plan anyway.
“It’s not conducive to training, but I’m lucky my dad is fit and healthy, and he’s able to go milking. But anytime I’m around, I do go milking.
“A lot say you have farmer’s strength from it. I find it’s very good instead of sitting down in an office chair or whatever, you’re up and about, you’re moving. So I think it’s actually a good thing for you.”
Such is his linchpin status in the Cork defence, it feels like Joyce has been around a lot longer than four years.
He emerged as a major prospect when winning two All-Ireland under-20 titles – one delayed by Covid – in the space of a month. He was still underage for 2022, but was elevated into the senior panel. His goal was to make the bench. Instead, he found himself stationed at centre back for their run to a quarter-final.
Now, he carpools to training with a similar breakout star in Diarmuid “Dudsy” Healy.
“At the start, naturally, he’d be asking questions, and you’d be trying your best to teach him a bit. Like, I’m only 23, so I’m still learning as well, but you try your best to give him a hand.
“He’s a great bit of stuff. I mark him in training a lot, and he’s very difficult to mark. He’s fast and he’s strong, and he has a great pair of hands as well. He’s everything you want in a half-forward player.”
Conor Lehane is another frequent foe who Joyce bills as “definitely the hardest fellah to mark in training”.
Joyce has tended to man the wing back berth this year, with captain Robert Downey taking the centre when fit.
“The way in which we play, there’s actually not much of a difference,” says Joyce.
“As a centre back for Cork, you’re pushing a lot. We like to play in the opposition faces and the way teams are playing, players are switching around the place.”
It’s when they’re not getting closely acquainted with their markers that Cork begin to worry. It’s been a rare occurrence, although the Limerick round-robin defeat was a notable exception.
“There was a graph of how many turnovers we got in the game,” reveals Joyce.
“You could see against Limerick in 2024, and this amount of turnovers against Limerick in 2025.
“It was staggering to see how much turnovers were in each game, which gives us a real representation of how hard you work.
“It kind of hurts when you’re looking at that and you’re just saying, jeez, that’s how bad we were.
“Gary Keegan does an awful lot of psychology work with us, and he’s always harping on about next moment, next moment.
“Even against Dublin, we felt we’re only playing for 10 minutes here or there, which is the thing we want to improve on for the next day.
“So it’s a thing we’re always going on about, moment by moment.”
