It begs the question: Where is Cork hurling at the moment?

Taking Sunday gone, along with the 2022 and ‘23 summers, Cork have played 11 championship games. They’ve won four (one of those over Antrim), drawn one, and lost six. In Premier League parlance, that’s 13 points from a possible 33. That's just-above-relegation-zone form. That’s really poor. It provides a compelling argument for change.

Across those 11 games, Cork raised 21 green flags. An average of two a game, barely.

On the run into Sunday’s opener, Pat Ryan said that Cork needed to be getting three or four goals each day they went out to be winning championship games.

And yet, when I looked at Sunday’s starting team, the only real in-form goal scorer of note was Alan Connolly. The Rockies man managed one at Walsh Park, but was otherwise scarcely fed.

There was an awful lot of shooting on sight from out the field, particularly the half-forward line, who I felt had teammates inside making runs. Whether it was selfish play or instruction from the line, Cork didn't look like a team that was set up to try and get three or four goals.

If Brian Hayes was capable of coming on, then he was fit for involvement. Brian has shown at club level how capable he is of finding the net. Think also of his fabulous goal against Tipperary last year down the Páirc.

I found it strange that when we were gasping for goals, we didn't put more men like Brian Hayes in the team. He should have started against Waterford. He should start against Clare.

Pat is in a little bit of a precarious spot right now in that if he makes too many changes for this weekend, it might go against him. I am not so sure it will.

Names like Kingston, Downey, Cunningham, Meade, Hayes, and Roche need to come into the reckoning. Robbie O'Flynn, if he's fit, will 100% come into the reckoning. Furthermore, I don’t believe it is too late to even dip into the U20s for names like Healy and Buckley.

All these fellas need to come into the conversation. It is staring us in the face in the wake of Sunday's performance and the last two years that something different is needed.

I know some of the above names have been tried before. But there are lads on that Cork bench whose time has come. I am thinking here of Brian Roche, Brian Hayes, Eoin Downey, and Ben Cunningham, Dalton, and Micheál Mullins if they are injury-free. They have a winning mentality from their U20 years. They offer something different.

Cork started desperately slow on Sunday. They were 1-4 to 0-1 behind inside 10 minutes. They were 1-8 to 0-4 behind on 20 minutes. You'd think Cork would have settled by this stage and found their range. Instead they were seven down.

Although the gap was pared to four by the break, there is a constant trend of this team allowing the opposition to run up sizable leads. And they then have to exert a colossal amount of energy just to get close or draw level.

When Alan Connolly goaled on 67 minutes, the deficit was a mere two. That was Cork’s opportunity to strike and sow doubt. Nothing, though, came from the goal. The home side hit the next two scores through Patrick Curran and Dessie Hutchinson to shove their lead out to four again.

That to me is a huge concern. We are conceding too many scores. We have a problem in our backline. That was our third championship game in the last four where the opposition surpassed the 30-point total. It is getting through our half-back line too easily.

We seem to lack that punch when the game is there for the taking. We seem to lack some sort of a killer instinct.

In the half-back line, I am not sure the blend is right. Is Mark Coleman better off in a midfield position, Darragh Fitz maybe going to No.11, and Eoin Downey getting his opportunity in the half-back line?

Clare’s visit is knockout. They are strong in areas that we are going to be worried about. I have Clare down as a better team on paper than Waterford.

I am down the Páirc with the Cork minors, so I see the effort the seniors are making. One evening there in the last fortnight, they met Gary Keegan around 5pm. By the time they were done on the field, it was 8.30pm. That timespan for one evening’s get-together shows the work going into this.

There is no question but a huge effort is being put in by all in the Cork camp. But can you be too methodical? Is there a time to go for broke, to give youth its fling? Is that time approaching for Pat to try something different? We know the answer.