Colm O'Neill was delighted to start his first championship game for Cork on Saturday since the 2012 All-Ireland SFC semi-final defeat to Donegal.

The brave Ballyclough clubman has battled back from three cruciate ligament injuries to force his way back into Brian Cuthbert's starting line-up. He top-scored with 0-10 (0-6 from play) against Sligo in Tullamore and will be a key man for the Rebels in their quest to upset Mayo in next Sunday's All-Ireland quarter-final.

"That was my first championship start in two years," O'Neill enthused.

"It was a long time coming, but I'm just thankful to be back playing football on a regular basis.

"We didn't panic, worked the ball through and took our scores when the chances came. We can't control what happened in the Munster final. We moved on from it and focused on what we had to do." Tweet

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