To many GAA folk, Cork’s humiliation against Kilkenny in Nowlan Park last Sunday week was met with all the sympathy a banker might expect upon discovering that his Lexus has been rear-ended.
Not many, however, will begrudge Conor Counihan's footballers their moment in the sun at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday. They won promotion to the top tier of the National League and a place in the Division Two final with another artful display of attacking football against Armagh.
I’ve been telling anyone that will listen to me [insert smart comment here] that Cork are the team to watch in this year’s championship. I’ll put my neck on the line and say that Cork are my early favourites to end the hegemony Kerry and Tyrone have enjoyed since Armagh triumphed in 2002.
“You arrogant Cork bo***x”, you might say – and with some justification. But hear me out.
The criticism levelled at Cork over the last few years is that they have never quite dealt with the problem full-back position. Another is that their attack is too lightweight, that players like Daniel Goulding and John Hayes – “lovely footballers, but just not made of the right stuff,” the aficionados argue – will not do against the top teams.
Counihan has called in Bishopstown’s Noel O’Donovan from the inter-county wilderness to take over in the number three slot. Last year, midfielder Derek Kavanagh provided a stop-gap solution, but his lack of experience was exposed, especially in the semi-finals against Kerry, in what is one of the few specialised positions in Gaelic football.
O’Donovan, an athlete rather than a brute on the edge of the square in the Francie Bellew mould, impressed throughout the league, although he was hampered by a hamstring problem towards the end of the campaign.
In Ray Carey and Michael Shields, Counihan can call on two able deputies, particularly the St Finbarr’s youngster, who has made god on the promise he showed prior to his ill-fated AFL experiment. Ger Spillane, a regular over the last few years, may have to content himself with a place on the bench – a sign of Cork’s strength-in-depth at the back.
Shields has already cemented a place at corner-back, while Anthony Lynch provides the experience on the other flank. Defensive problems solved. Just three goals conceded in the league will attest to that.
Further up the field, those among the paltry attendance in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday – what is it with the Cork public and the National League? – caught a glimpse of the future while remembering the past with the performance of Paul Kerrigan. Rebels of a certain vintage will remember his father, Jimmy, a barrel-chested corner back who won an All Star in 1983 and was a team-mate of Counihan in the great Cork team of the late ‘80s.
Kerrigan junior came to prominence with his indefatigable performances for CIT in their successful Sigerson Cup campaign this year. Counihan has used him at centre-forward since he came into the Cork panel and he served notice of his immense potential with five points from play in the promotion-clinching win over the Orchard County. The Nemo Rangers man is built like his father – like a brick outhouse – and his all-action running style can be compared to that of Tyrone’s Brian Dooher. No pressure.
Kerrigan’s emergence should allow Pearse O’Neill to move back to the middle of the field, where he will be allowed to bomb forward while Alan O’Connor or Nick Murphy mind the house.
Further sustenance can be taken from the performance of the Cork attack against Armagh: all six forward scored from play, as did their two midfielders. The spread of scores in their attack throughout the league was noteworthy, while some of the tallies they racked up – 0-19 [Armagh], 1-15 [Meath], 0-18 [Laois], 1-16 [Wexford] - in the most competitive of the four divisions is the sign of a forward line that is purring. The lack of goals may be a slight worry, but full-forward Michael Cussen should be back from injury soon to take care of that.
Counihan has used the league adroitly, blooding several new names and establishing a group of about 25 players who look capable of standing up to the intensity of championship football.
"The panel we have developed is very strong. All the players we have found is a plus because they have all come up to the mark. We have a very strong panel and no-one is guaranteed a place. Lads are really trying in training because they know if they show up well during the week, they’ll get a chance at the weekend," says team captain Graham Canty.
Donegal’s John Joe Doherty and Westmeath’s Tomas O’Flatharta tried something similar and ended up with an omelette full of egg on their faces. They now have a job to pick their troops off the floor after spirit-sapping campaigns that ended in relegation from the top tier.
After a promising first year in charge, Counihan has shown remarkable courage – not to mention faith in his players – to continue with a rotation policy when many would have been swayed by the lure of promotion and the garlands that come with it towards the end of the league. The Rebels will reap further reward this summer as a result.
Such confidence may be said to be the part of the Cork psyche. However, the county’s footballers – for a million reasons – seem destined to live in the shadows of their small ball counterparts in the volatile southern enclave. And that’s just not right.
I grew up in an era when the football demanded just as much attention, when little snot-nosed Rebels were as likely to cherish names like Dinny Allen, Dave Barry and Paul McGrath [Teddy McCarthy held a special place in all our hearts] as they were Tony O’Sullivan, Tom Cashman and Tomas Mulcahy.
That all changed after Jimmy Barry-Murphy led Cork to an All-Ireland title in 1999 and his group of young charges captured the public’s imagination like no other had for a generation. The hurlers were box office. The footballers faltered in their wake, going into a tailspin after losing the All-Ireland final to Meath in 1999. The magical rivalry with Kerry petered out and the show went on without them.
But Cork football is on the rise again. It’s just a pity the Cork public have no interest in going along for the ride. Fewer than 500 hardy souls ventured down the Centre Park Road for the league game against Wexford, and while the attendance was up to 2,000 for the crucial game against Armagh, it should be noted that many of those in the bucket seats were wearing orange.
Fair enough, the hurlers are hardly giving the turnstile operators twisted blood during the National League, but come the high summer, they can expect up to 30,000 to travel to Thurles for a big championship game. In contrast, the Munster football final against Kerry attracted just 24,000 to Páirc Uí Chaoimh last year.
I still remember Derek Kavanagh, the Cork captain at the time, saying before the 2007 All-Ireland final that the players wanted to win Sam Maguire for themselves – a pointed dig at the famed Cork support, which had been overwhelming in its apathy to their cause in the build-up to the game against Kerry.
That is why, in contrast to the hurlers, I have no problem ‘bigging up’ Conor Counihan’s men before the Championship this year. They have existed autonomously, like an unloved sister, on Leeside for too long. It’s time for Cinderella to go to the ball.