GAELIC GAMES MUNSTER SHC: IAN O'RIORDANtalks to former Na Piarsaigh manager Joe O'Leary about the timely return to Cork colours of the towering Aisake Ó hAilpín

THE RAPID retransformation of Aisake Ó hAilpín from Australian Rules convert to front man in the Cork hurling team may have surprised some people, but not those closest to him. The 23-year-old, who only returned from his four-year stint with Melbourne club Carlton in December, was always regarded as every bit as talented as any of the Ó hAilpín brothers, which is clearly saying something.

All three hurling brothers – Aisake, Seán Óg and Setanta – helped Na Piarsaigh win the Cork hurling title in 2004 under then manager Joe O’Leary, who went on to be a Cork senior selector.

When Aisake decided to follow Setanta to Carlton shortly afterwards, O’Leary rued the loss to club and county, yet at the same time hinted that he might some day be back. Once Aisake made that decision to come back, O’Leary straightaway expected him to return to the Cork hurling team, and the latter thinks his selection at full forward for Sunday’s Munster quarter-final against Tipperary was almost a formality – even if it marks his first appearance for Cork since the 2003 All-Ireland minor semi-final defeat to Kilkenny.

“The minute I knew he was coming back home I knew he’d be back in the Cork team,” says O’Leary. “Even when he left in 2004 it was very much on the cards that he would have been part of the Cork panel in 2005, had he not gone. I mean when he first said he was going to Australia we were all very surprised, but then it was the adventure of a lifetime for him.

“But he’s lost nothing. He always had a hurley with him out there (in Australia) and since he’s come back he’s been working very, very hard on it. He’s got a few good club and challenge matches under his belt as well. And he has all the attributes he needs to be successful.

“The big thing for Cork is that they’ve lost three big players in Joe Deane, Diarmuid O’Sullivan and also Brian Murphy. You don’t replace players like that overnight, but to have someone like Aisake to come in there is a great fillip to the team.”

O’Leary, who is back in charge of the Na Piarsaigh minors, has seen first-hand Aisake’s apparently seamless return to hurling. Although Aisake played both minor football and hurling for Cork in 2003, hurling was where his true potential lay: “Hurling was always his number-one game. He played football too as a minor, but never too seriously. It was more something he played because everyone else his age was playing it as well.

“And at senior level for us anyway he was always in the full-forward line, either in the corner, or in full. His height (6ft 6in) is a huge advantage, obviously. But like the rest of the other Ó hAilpín brothers he’s just a great all-round athlete. You’d notice it in the way he trains, and you can see it even more now that he’s coming from a background of full-time professional training.

“The intensity is there with him the whole time. He has that desire to be the best he possible can. That was always very evident.”

The younger Ó hAilpín isn’t the only newcomer to the Cork line-up for Sunday: manager Denis Walsh has also given first starts to Eoin Cadogan and Conor O’Sullivan in the full-back line – but there are plenty of familiar faces elsewhere, with 10 of the side that started in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Kilkenny.

Timmy McCarthy comes in at left-half forward, and Kieran Murphy of Sarsfields at right corner forward. Sean Óg has recovered from his hamstring problems to start at wing back.

Elsewhere, Offaly manager Joe Dooley has announced the same 15 that beat Wexford in the Division Two National League final earlier this month for Saturday evening’s Leinster first-round rematch in Wexford Park. David Kenny has recovered from hamstring injury to take his place at full back, while Ger Oakley will captain the team from centre back in what is his 13th senior campaign with Offaly.

In football, Leitrim manager Mickey Moran has included four newcomers in his attack for Sunday’s Connacht football clash with Roscommon at Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada. Tomás Beirne starts at centre forward, Colm Clarke at left-half forward, and Ray Cox and James Clancy at either corner of the full-forward line.

However, star forward Emlyn Mulligan has been ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a cruciate ligament injury last month. Mulligan hit 1-34 in six league games this season before the injury struck in a club game with Melvin Gaels. Roscommon include two newcomers in defenders Peter Domican and Paul Kelly, who replace injured duo Seamie O’Neill and Cathal Cregg.