Kerrigan plots return to the big time for Cork

Hmeant it had been a baptism of fire for the new management overall last season.

Yet, their performance against Donegal suggested the future wasn’t entirely without hope.

They were given little or no chance going into the game, but they rattled the Northerners for most of it, and it wasn’t until the last ten minutes that their challenge hit the wall.

It was then that Donegal’s greater experience proved decisive, as Cork lost their composure when the crunch came and they coughed up three late points to finish 0-21 to 1-15 in arrears.

Cork’s display was generally viewed in a favourable light, especially since their line-out contained five players making their first appearance AVING tasted considerable success with the Cork footballers when his inter-county career was in its infancy, Paul Kerrigan could be forgiven if he found the downturn in the Rebels’ fortunes over the past few seasons extremely hard to endure.

As he faces into his tenth championship campaign, however, which gets underway with a first round tie in Munster against Waterford at Dungarvan next Saturday evening, the Cork captain says he’s lost none of his enthusiasm for the game in the top flight and that he’s enjoying his football as much as ever.

He’s also hopeful that, before he calls it a day, Cork can return to the level they were at when he started out, and he’s convinced they are in a better position heading into the championship than they were this time twelve months ago.

“There is no denying the league was disappointing in that we’d have liked to go up from Division 2 and get another game in Croke Park before the championship,” he admitted.

“We played well the first day against Galway, who turned out to be the best team in the group, and we really should have beaten them, because we had a lot of wides. We also dropped a point against both Meath and Down, and those three draws could quite easily have been three wins, but there’s no point in dwelling on what happened in the league at this stage.

“I think we learned something from it, we tried out a few things, and we’ve actually tweaked them in the meantime, so hopefully we can take the lessons forward into the championship.”

Kerrigan believes the big plus for Cork this year is that they are in much better shape fitness-wise.

“We have a lot of hard training done since the league, and there’s been much more emphasis on conditioning,” he revealed.

“It’s not a slight on anyone, but we felt we weren’t up to the top teams in that regard last year, so we’re trying to close the gap and give ourselves the best chance at a minimum.

“We’ve been working on the skills of the game as well of course, because we don’t want to be a team of robots, running up and down the field all day, but fitness-levels have gone through the roof in the modern game.

“All the players in the top teams are ferocious athletes, and hopefully we’re getting there now as well,’ he said, adding that another reason for optimism is that, in contrast to last year, Cork haven’t had a major injury-crisis to contend with in the lead-up to the summer campaign.

“We have almost had a full panel in a championship game at Croker.

Their failure to gain promotion from Division 2 this season, however, was disappointing, although they did show potential in a few games, most notably in the league opener against Galway up in Salthill.

They were clearly the better team that day, but they allowed Galway off the hook by failing to make the most of their chances. The match ended in stalemate, as did two of Cork’s other games against Meath and Down, which meant they were just three scores away from claiming one of the two promotion spots up for grabs in the group.

They could hardly complain unduly about their fate, given their available since the start of the season, whereas I think there was over a dozen fellas who played championship last year after playing no game in the league.

“To know everyone is flying fit not only improves morale, but it makes the in-house games better as well, which gives us a fair idea where were at.”

Kerrigan accepts that Cork will be raging hot favourites to beat Waterford, but, having lost to Clare in the league, he says they won’t be taking anything for granted.

“You’d imagine Waterford will be poor showings against Kildare and Clare, while their two victories over Fermanagh and Derry were nothing to write home about.

Mixing the good with the bad has become par for the course as far as Cork are concerned at this stage, but when they do put their best foot forward, they are a team well capable of putting it up to any opposition.

That was underlined when they ran Donegal so close in 2016, although the latter’s tame capitulation to Dublin next time out brought it forcibly home that Cork have a long way to go before they are ready to reclaim a place among the game’s current elite, which basically comprises the Dubs, Kerry and Mayo

Were they to get a bit more ready to have a right go at us down in Dungarvan, but we’re just looking forward to getting the show on the road, and, assuming everything goes according to plan, I think playing a first round game leaves you better prepared for what’s coming further down the line.”

Stressing that Cork were handicapped by injury-problems and fitness deficiency last year, Kerrigan said it probably cost them in the All-Ireland qualifier against Donegal.

“We had Donegal on the ropes, but I suppose the fitness and the injuries I spoke about came against us, and consistency in their game, however, they might not be as far off the big-time as is generally perceived, and it isn’t beyond the bounds of possibility that the positives stemming from their creditable performance against Donegal last year will serve to hasten their development in the months ahead.

As manager Peadar Healy regularly points out, Cork are a team in transition at the moment, and it remains to be seen to what extent the comparative newcomers to the squad will benefit from the experience gained last year.

It isn’t unreasonable to expect they’ll have more to offer this year, while the return of two-time All-Star Aidan Walsh to the fold, having spent the last two seasons giving these are two things we have cleared up this year.”

So, what does he expect Cork to achieve in 2017?

“In my first five years involved with the seniors we were the team to beat, but now it’s a different challenge, and we really want to get back near the top. From my own point of view, I’m not going to walk away just because we’re not at the top table, I’m determined to stay on as long as I can, and get that buzz back playing in big games again.

“I suppose Dublin, Kerry, Mayo and maybe Tyrone and Donegal are the full commitment to the hurlers, has to be viewed as a major plus as well.

There is no shortage of quality in the squad, and, apart from the injured Eoin Cadogan and Brian O’Driscoll, the management will have everyone available for the Munster quarter-final clash with Waterford in Dungarvan next Saturday night.

As a means of assessing what sort of shape Cork are in, it’s unlikely to be an enlightening exercise, because Waterford, who finished in the bottom half of Division 4 in the league, are firmly berthed in football’s lower echelons and should be little more than lambs for the slaughter. Verdict: Cork leading contenders for the All-Ireland, but I feel we could definitely catch any one of them on our day.

“As I’ve said, we could have beaten Donegal last year, and we’ve ran Dublin close in the league a fair few times over the past few seasons, so you’d never know, we might be back in Croke Park on the August Bank Holiday week-end and maybe push on to the All-Ireland semi-finals.

“If we get a chance to challenge one of the top four teams, we’ll see where we are then,” said the 30 year-old Nemo Rangers clubman.