RED ALERT Cork football hits crisis point
Diarmuid Sheehan takes stock of Cork football as it reaches its lowest ebb in decades with a season to forget
INSTANT messaging is the flavour of the month for now – particularly when it comes to people wanting to get their views out there on sport. A game no sooner finishes than messages fly through the ether letting all in sundry know what the sender’s views might be.
Last Saturday night instant messaging got a chance to go through its paces well before the conclusion of a sporting event as Tyrone hammered Cork in the senior football qualifiers sending football fans around the county into near meltdown.
There was little talk about how good Tyrone were, and to be fair they were really good, as all the comment and ire was spared for Cork. This was to be the Rebels’ last chance of 2018 redemption, but yet again the event just highlighted where Cork football is right now and the fact that Ireland’s largest county just can’t compete with the big boys in Irish football.
One message I got with 10 minutes still on the clock came from a Kerry fan. A Kerry journalist to be precise and, while one may have expected the text to be full of Kerry humour, I can assure you it wasn’t.
It had a simple tone that left the reader, me, in no doubt of what this man felt. “It’s genuinely sad” he said and really it is just hard to argue. It is sad, it’s maddening, frustrating, wrong on so many levels and hard to take on so many others but overall it is, as my Kerry friend said, it’s just sad.
A county with such history, pride and passion, with an ego that would knock Conor McGregor off his lofty perch has been left somewhere between a laughing stock and pitied by those that have genuine ambitions of national glory.
There was a time, not too long ago, when sides would have seen Cork as the side to avoid in a draw – they were major players in football and title contenders year after year.
Of course, there were also long periods when they had to take a back seat to their neighbours from the Kingdom, but they were still always competitive, they always had a chance and Cork supporters always appreciated their side’s efforts.
Now these lofty attributes are a thing of the past.
Cork can’t really compete with Kerry at the moment and, while that in itself is hardly a disaster, it is fair to say they are struggling to deal with most other counties too.
The way Cork succumbed to Kerry in the Munster Final was alarming, but the way they bowed out to Tyrone last Saturday night was just sad. Players with ability and passion with pride in the jersey and no shortage of resources at their disposal were blown away by a side struggling to find their own place in a Dublin dominated world.
Tyrone were good but not that good – they probably won’t win the All Ireland, they probably won’t even trouble the Sky Blues and yet they could rack up a near cricket score of a difference against a side that won an All-Ireland this decade and probably should have won more.
Cork came into this one looking to put to bed their Munster
Final humiliation at the hands of Kerry with a credible display against a county that they had only met twice in Championship football – winning both.
Last Saturday night was different though. When Cork defeated the Red Hand in the past it was on the way to All Ireland glory – last weekend it was about credibility, it was about showing the football world that Cork were still around, it was about survival and honestly on all three metrics Cork failed to deliver.
A sixteen point difference at this level of competition is what can justifiably be called a mauling and Cork have been mauled twice in a matter of weeks.
Right from the off this one was a mismatch as Tyrone quickly got to grips with the job at hand while Cork yet again stuttered their way through the early stages.
Cork had some ball, but failed to convert however when their opponents moved the ball around the middle and front thirds they always looked like scoring.
Both sides didn’t show that much early on however Tyrone were able to pull clear with goals, well times points and confidence that was sadly lacking on the other side.
The bus trip home to Leeside from the midlands would have been a difficult one for all with few in red up for anything like the festivities that often come with a season ending game. Cork are now out and outside of this county few will give them another thought.
The competition will go on without Cork and unfortunately that is far from a surprise and nothing out of the ordinary and while supporters and boards will look to work out what it all means this has to be a time for cool heads.
Ronan McCarthy shouldn’t come under serious pressure for this season and to be fair not for next season either. Fingers will be pointed at all quarters as the die-hard supporters of the Blood and Bandage look for an answer that will change things, but the answer is just that, it is about change.
Cork football needs a route and branch overhaul with no member of the management, playing or backroom staff exempt from scrutiny. The county has to go back to basics, clean house if you will, and if that means heads have to go then so be it.
Some of the players that togged out last weekend will never play for Cork again – some will retire – some will be dropped
A sixteen point difference at this level of competition is what can justifiably be called a mauling
and some will look to other avenues as the torture of playing for a once great county side wanes and drains them.
McCarthy put his head above the parapet to take a job that was once the best in Irish football but is now seen as the most potent of poison chalices in the GAA – and for that he deserves credit and time, but the main man will be well aware that time has a habit of running out quickly and he has just two years remaining to deliver something, anything, to a county that is much better than what we have been seeing for the last number of years.
Despite all the negativity there will be green shoots, there will be signs of hope from this season and from those little acorns perhaps a mighty tree will again grow. Cork found some new talent this year and that will help, but they need more.
They need a raft of new players to come into the side and shore up areas that are holed. New players bring energy, freshness and dreams of glory and that will be Ronan McCarthy’s big test.
Can he succeed in finding enough players to provide genuine competition for places. Can he develop a squad that has a genuine A and B side that can test the best of the rest into the future?
All the past instruction manuals need to now be replaced with vision as Cork looks to drag itself off the canvass one more time. Cork football has been at a low ebb before but there were always signs and always hope – this time we have seen little sign and most would agree that hope is gone for now so it is from here that legends must be born.
True legends of the game drag their counties back from the brink and onto something great – Ronan McCarthy will get the chance to become a legend in Cork, but he will need help, understanding and patience – here’s hoping he gets all three.