Confident Ciarán Joyce planning to kick on with Cork after 2024 learnings 

Looking at their 2024 campaign as a whole, Joyce is sure they can take umpteen lessons, not only from their extra-time final defeat, but what happened after the early Munster championship losses against Waterford and Clare. 

“We can take some amount of learnings from this year and there are young fellas coming through. I think there’s a good blend there, us young fellas take a lot of learnings from the older fellas. 

"They’ve been there a very long time, the likes of Séamie (Harnedy) and Hoggie (Patrick Horgan) to name just a few.

“We can take a lot of learnings from this year, especially after the first two games, that’s where we really kick-started our year. We hopefully want to take that momentum into next year now.”

Joyce noted a need to park that agonising loss to Brian Lohan's Clare. No point in going over old ground, says the Castlemartyr youngster. This was aided by a swift return to Cork club championship action. And a fruitful return it would be. 

A Premier SHC crown with his division Imokilly and an east Cork Junior A title with his club have been picked up since. 

"I nearly liked that it was a two-week turnaround, going straight back into it.

“Straightaway, you’re just concentrating on your next match with Castlemartyr and you’re forgetting about the Clare game, which is good in a way.

“It was a month later that Castlemartyr were playing, you’d be dwelling on the defeat all month. It made us get over it a bit quicker, I thought.”

On getting back on the road at inter-county level, he added: “There’s a good team there, hopefully we’ll have another few days ahead of us. There’s no point dwelling on things – what happened happened.

“Hopefully, there’s a good future ahead for us.”

Competition within Pat Ryan's Cork ranks is rife. Joyce is adamant it brings a needed edge to a county looking to scoop the biggest prize on offer.

Having missed the Munster SHC wins over Limerick and Tipperary early in the 2024 campaign with a hamstring issue, Joyce returned for the All-Ireland series outings against Offaly and Dublin, and ended up grabbing an All-Star nomination. 

As important as he has been in the Cork defence in recent years, he wasn't assured of walking straight back in. 

“Certainly, the competition inside the team is very good.

“For the Offaly and Dublin games, I got a start. You’re on your toes the whole time with the Cork panel, there are nearly two players in every position and you constantly have to be ready. You can’t get any bit complacent.

“When I left, Rob (Downey) played a great role at centre-back. In the Offaly game, I played midfield and then, before the Dublin game, Rob got sick so I went in centre-back.

“To be honest, I don’t mind playing anywhere, whether it’s half-back or midfield. As long as I’m in the starting 15, that’s all I want.”

The MTU student's elevation to the Rebel senior setup prior to the 2022 campaign was a swift one, one he perhaps didn't envisage himself. 

For him, it was about taking it step by step in the hopes of contributing. He has certainly delivered in the short number of years he has spent plying his trade at the top table.

“When I was first called in, I was like, ‘If I make the matchday panel, I’ll be happy'," Joyce recalls. "I remember thinking that to myself and when I started training and playing a few matches then, I was making my way up and up.

“Then I was in the starting 15 and I was thinking, ‘I might actually be in with a shout here.’ I just worked my way from there, I took it training by training, match by match and luckily I found my way into the starting 15 that year.

“We’ve come a long way since – it’s mad to think that that was three years ago now, time is flying by.”

Only three years in, however, the hunger for All-Ireland glory will only be heightened having come so close this past summer.