It's a new era for the Cork senior hurlers and the first taste of action under manager John Meyler ended in victory at the weekend as they defeated Kilkenny 1-24 to 0-24 in their Allianz National Hurling League opener.
Cork goalkeeper Anthony Nash was not involved in the action as he was playing with his club Kanturk with Patrick Collins in the Cork goal for the day.
But Nash did join Joe for a chat in studio today. He had been originally slated to play in both the club and inter-county fixtures on the same day and felt he would have been able to fulfill both games.
"I actually put myself forward to do it. I suppose being fortunate enough to be a goalkeeper, I felt I was able to do both games and I'd spoken to Kanturk and they were willing to allow me and they were very, very helpful towards that," said Nash.
"I said it to John that I was available. Unfortunately, the weekend before, our Kanturk game had been postponed due to weather. So I said to John and the [Cork] management, 'Lookit, I'd like to be involved against Kilkenny under lights in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, first league games of the year, in front of 16,000 supporters."
Ultimately, the Cork management made a "very fair decision" to let Nash and his Kanturk team-mates to concentrate solely on club commitments for the weekend and he added "to hear the little bit of negative press that I heard about the management team was very unfair on their behalf".
The debate about club vs county has been in the spotlight across the wider GAA and Nash shared his view: "I don't want to see a split of club players and county players".
Nash also talked about free-taking and the sheer uniqueness of being a goalkeeper, including the pain of getting struck by a sliothar in sensitive areas of the body.
"You hear a lot about goalkeepers getting hit in certain areas, and unfortunately they've lost testicles and stuff over that which is horrendous," he said, adding that they use tennis balls in training for close-in shots. Nash also recalled breaking a toe while saving a shot from Patrick Collins previously.
Meanwhile, Nash also broached the issue of ticket prices and the need to keep them affordable for fans hoping to attend the Championship's round-robin games that crystalise extra fixtures for all counties.
"The one thing I would like to say is that for the support of numbers, I hope the ticket prices are reflected in that because it's a huge, huge day out for people and a lot of expense for families of four and families of five."
