Footballers not dwelling on relegation insists Paul Kerrigan
MORE so than in the recent past, the Cork footballers will be going into the championship under the radar this year, according to team captain Paul Kerrigan.
Now in his ninth season involved with the squad, the experienced attacker appreciates why the consensus is that Cork have slipped down the pecking-order over the past 12 months, having made an early exit from the All-Ireland title race in 2015 and suffered relegation from Division 1 in the recent National League.
“It was a frustrating season last year, to be out of the championship in July was bitterly disappointing, and we don’t need to be told we didn’t represent ourselves and the county well in the All-Ireland qualifier against Kildare.
“We’re probably rated outside the top six or seven teams at the moment, but that doesn’t concern us, to be honest, because our preparations have gone well since we were demoted in the league.
“We went to Portugal for a training camp, and we had a few tough sessions out there, but the most important thing was it helped to develop the spirit within the squad,” he said.
“I think having to make three away trips in the league has been a help in this regard as well, it meant we spent a lot of time together as a group, and I’m convinced we’re in very good shape right now.”
Kerrigan contends that the league wasn’t without its benefits from a Cork perspective, making the point that a lot of the more experienced players were unavailable for the entire campaign, which afforded some younger players an opportunity to make an impression.
“I thought the new guys showed a very good attitude, and the experienced fellas who were out injured are back with us now, so I don’t imagine it’s going to be easy for the management to pick the team to face Tipperary in Thurles next Sunday.
“We are under no illusions, it’s going to be a difficult game against Tipp, who should have beaten us in the Munster semi final at Pairc Uí Chaoimh two years ago.
“asdfThey will be going all out to exact revenge for that defeat, and I suppose the fact that we performed so badly against Kildare in Thurles last year will give them a fillip as well.
“We certainly aren’t thinking beyond the Tipp game at this stage, but if we go out and produce what we’ve been doing in training, in challenge games and in internal games over the past few weeks, I’d be hopeful we can get the win.”
Reflecting on the possible repercussions stemming from the loss of their top flight status in the league, the Nemo Rangers clubman contends that relegation isn’t going to militate against Cork’s prospects in the long term.
“We’ve played in Division 2 before, and, after we won the title, we got to an All-Ireland final as well in 2009,” he pointed out. “Tyrone have also done well out of Division 2 recently, so it’s not something to worry about for next year as far as I’m concerned.”
As regards this year’s championship, Kerrigan accepts that Dublin are the team that will take all the stopping, but he suggests the front-runners in the chasing pack are all capable of beating each other on a given day.
“Dublin are probably slightly ahead of the rest, but you’d always be hopeful of catching them on an off-day. It’s a case of taking it one step at a time for us, but we showed in the two games against Kerry in the Munster final last year that we can perform, even if we didn’t win the replay and we hit rock-bottom against Kildare after that.”