Maguire: There’s an air of confidence
IT’S likely to be a season of transition for the Cork senior football team, but Ian Maguire has no fears for the new intake of players.
Despite not yet turning 24, Maguire has been appointed as the captain of the Rebels for the National League campaign, which begins with a tricky assignment against Tipperary on Saturday. He is optimistic that those coming in can deal with the pressures.
“It might be something that’s addressed,” he says, “but the impression I’ve got is that it’s not an issue.
“At the end of the day, it’s football, you go out to play the game and not the occasion. A lot of these fellas have played in big games at underage like the U21 All-Ireland final, they know what it’s like.”
It’s not so long ago that Maguire was in a similar position, but such has been the level of upheaval that now he’s at the more experienced end of the scale.
“I came in in 2014 and it feels like there has been a huge transition but that’s just the way it is in sport, I suppose.
“I’d still classify myself as one of the new guys – I’m not that old! – but at the end of the day it’s football and you have to take your opportunity. That’s the approach everybody has been taking, there are a lot of new faces and a lot of energy in training.
“There’s an air of confidence at the moment, a lot of positivity and hopefully we’ll drive it on for the first league game. We’re really looking forward to taking on Tipp, it seems to be a regular fixture year in and year out now, almost like a bit of a rivalry developing.”
To be considering Tipp as rivals might sound as if it’s downgrading Cork’s status, but Maguire doesn’t see it that way.
“Where I’m from, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you don’t play down the competition,” he says.
“We’ve played Tipperary the last few years, I was there in Thurles