My family and I stayed at Maria and Jim's place for two weeks. Maria and Jim were super hosts. They picked us up at the airport and drove us back! This was definitely not expected but we were very appreciative of them for doing this, especially when it is your first time in a place and don't know your way around. Maria was responsive to every message I sent prior, and during, our stay and helped me find summer camps and local classes my family and I wanted to experience. Maria and Jim also have a friendly and pleasant personality and you can't help but to like them right away.
In regard to their place: The apartment has everything you need for a very comfortable stay. My husband, who is a mattress snob, gives an A++. We travel often and this was the first time I heard him say that. Locations is great! We are walkers or use public transportation when we travel and we were able to get around by bus, train, greenway and ferry. If you have kids, or like to play soccer, or learn/watch hurling, there is a beautiful field within a 5 minute walk. If you went straight, you would end up at the top of the hill and have a breathtaking view of the town on one side, and on the other side cool looking cows for your amusement. You can also walk to the ferry to get you to the beautiful town of Cobh (the last stop of the Titanic before heading to New York; there is even a museum that teaches about it) with lots of shops, restaurant, ice cream stops etc. It was a great one day family trip. Or, if you kept on walking passed the ferry, you would end up at one of our favorite restaurants, the Bosun where they serve food all day. At the bottom of the hill from the apartment, you also have a cute square with excellent pizza shops, butcher shop (if you eat meat, we don't but our boys do, and the prices were excellent for fresh, local meats. I highly recommend it); there is also a convenient store, kids park, post office, pharmacy and liquor store. Lastly, there is a BEAUTIFUL greenway around the river! I'm a walker and I walked it all the way to Mahon Point shopping center, about 5 miles each way. It was worth it! You can also walk it all the way to Blackrock Castle where we had the BEST meal! The tour of the castle (now an observatory) was about an hour and my boys enjoyed it (11 and 12).
I highly recommend Maria and Jim's place for a stay if you are visiting Cork.