I’D NOTHING LEFT IN TANK
DANIEL KEARNEY has defended Cork’s substitution policy in the All-ireland semi-final loss to Limerick, in which he says he ran himself “into the ground”.
Kearney was withdrawn with 10 minutes of normal time left as Cork surrendered a sevenpoint lead, only to be reintroduced in extra-time.
But as Limerick swamped them, he was replaced again having been out on his feet.
“It was fatigue and after 60 minutes my legs were gone to be honest,” he admitted. “You aim to run yourself into the ground and I literally did it, probably the first time in a game.
“I’d consider myself fit enough but my calves just cramped. At 60 [minutes] there was no more in me and when it came to extra time the lads just said to me, ‘Are you able to go again?’
“It’s very hard to say no when they’re looking for you. I suppose I went to try and go again, probably being at 60 per cent or 70 per cent, the tiredness kind of showed in extra-time.
“We’d a lot of tired bodies and from the first half [of extra-time] it just felt like the tide was turning in their favour and the sucker punch goal came in the second half of extra-time. It was game over then.”
Former Cork star Diarmuid O’sullivan, who was a Cork senior selector 2016 and ‘17, hit out at the management team’s substitution policy, labelling it “criminal”, while he also questioned lack of impact off the bench.
“To pinpoint it to the wrong substitutions were made, or there was a lack of depth, it’s kind of like an easy statement to make,” said Kearney, speaking at the launch of Aer Lingus sponsored jerseys ahead of next month’s Fenway Classic. “If we had closed it out, it would have been, ‘Oh they were great moves’. It’s just a combination of different elements, within the team as well, that we maybe took our foot off the gas in the last 10 minutes and just drew Limerick on us.
“Maybe we just tried to defend our lead a bit too early and just fell off instead of trying to push on.”
Having been peripheral last year as Cork came from nowhere to win a Munster title, Kearney, better known as a midfielder, was moved to wing-forward where his form earned an All-star nomination.
“I’m not the stereotypical wing-forward. I don’t have what you’d consider ball-winning ability in the air from puck-outs.
“But I suppose John [Meyler] put me to wing-forward this year and I just tried to do my own thing with it, tried to suit the team whatever way I could and it just worked.
“Where I get the benefit is that the lads inside are being marked so tight; Patrick [Horgan], Conor [Lehane], Alan [Cadogan], whoever’s inside, so some of the half-backs try to protect them and I can ask a better question then of the half-backs.
“I enjoy that element of almost poker, you just ask the question. I’m thinking, I’ll try to punish you then for, not a lack of respect of my ability, but if you’re not going to mark me then I’ll try to hurt you. It worked well for us this year.”