Cork stole my heart but I can’t trust them
THERE is a perception among some Cork folk that I am in some way biased against their team because I give them such a hard time on this page. Nothing could be further from the truth, I would love to see them back contending because when playing to their ‘blood and bandage’ spirit, they enrich our game. I grew up in awe of Cork, of the likes of Christy Ring, Paddy Barry and Willie John Daly. And after that, in the 1970’s the great team embellished by the likes of Gerald McCarthy, Charlie McCarthy and the original baby-faced assassin that was Jimmy Barry-Murphy. But it is a long time since you could invest your trust in a Cork team. At the start of the League, I suggested — hoodwinked a little by their pre-season form — that they would be one of the teams to beat, but instead they’ve mixed the good with the bad. I was thrilled therefore to see them not just win last weekend against Waterford, but also to see the physical edge some of their younger players like Mark Coleman, Shane Kingston and Luke Meade brought to the game. But a word of caution, we have been here before where Cork have flattered to deceive. They are notoriously inconsistent, a world away from the likes of Tipperary and Kilkenny, where you know just about every time what you will get. With Cork, you can never say that now which is a pity because there was a time you could dress them up in pink tutus and you would still know by the marriage of steel and style in their game that you were watching the blood and bandage at play. I really hope that last weekend was a changing point. But as they say, one swallow does not make a summer.