O’MAHONY: CORK LOST FOCUS
WE HAVE been waiting for a spark to ignite the summer and it came in the one place that nobody was looking. The fact that only 2,734 were in Semple Stadium last Sunday says a lot. It tells us that very few were expecting the result they got. Tipperary have lost 13 of their squad from last year, through defections to hurling, the Aussie Rules and players heading for the US. It was understandable that their supporters weren’t out in force.
It would be remiss not to mention the fantastic job that Liam Kearns has done. Having lost so many players, being written off at every turn, he has wrought that result out of that team. He deserves every plaudit that has come his way this week — it will stand as one of the best managerial accomplishments of the summer.
But the real story emerging from Thurles last weekend is the state of Cork football. The fact that so few Cork people travelled illustrates the depth of the current malaise surrounding football in the southern capital. There just seems to be a general air of apathy towards the team and the game in general.
Having managed Leitrim and being involved with Carlow last year, I know the problems that those sort of counties face when it comes to talent and resources, which can make it a struggle to keep going every year at a competitive level. But Cork don’t have that excuse.
In terms of talent and resources, they should be contending for All-Irelands every year. Given the sheer weight of numbers, they should be making the All-Ireland quarter-final, at least, every summer. In the past, the Cork County Board have been in the dock for how the footballers have been treated but that argument can’t be made this year.
The footballers went on a warmweather training camp to Portugal. There were no club fixtures played in Cork within 13 days of their Championship match. Everything was delivered to them to ensure the performance was right on the pitch. So there is no sense that preparation was less than it should have been.
Cork have changed managers from Brian Cuthbert to Peadar Healy and the same problems remain. There is something fundamentally wrong at the heart of Cork football. And it comes down to a simple matter of pride in the Cork jersey. It does not seem to exist any more.
Ciarán Fitzgerald’s famous rallying call to his Ireland team-mates about ‘Where is yer f***kin’ Pride’ all those years ago and I think at this
point, wouldthe Cork do footballerswell to heed the words of the former rugby captain. They need to discover their pride again. The most damning indictment of this group of Cork footballers is that having clawed the game back, scoring 1-6 on the bounce between the PS: I WELCOME the development during the week where female inter-county GAA players got a cash injection to the tune of €1 million. It was something I would have worked towards when I was in the Dáíl and I feel ring-fencing this money to provide better standards of training and medical support for camogie players and ladies footballers is an important step for both of those sports. 61st and 69th minutes, they allowed a Tipperary team, who were out on their feet, to go on and win the game.
Since the likes of Graham Canty, Anthony Lynch and Noel O’Leary have left their panel, Cork footballers have suffered from a lack of leadership.
When a dressing-room loses big personalties like that, it is up to other players to step forward and take up the mantle. But that hasn’t seemed to happen in the Cork dressing-room. It is as if nobody wants to take on responsibility.
It is a serious accusation to lay against a county team that they have no pride in their jersey, but given some of the results that Cork footballers have suffered in the past few years, you can’t draw any other conclusion. Last year, they were only able to lift themselves with the sight of their old enemy, Kerry.
They should have won the drawn game last year. So how can a team that could have beaten the then defending All-Ireland champions, collapse entirely against Kildare in the qualifiers.
It should also be taken into consideration that the Lilywhites went on to concede seven goals to the Kingdom.
THAT suggests a team who have no unity of purpose – and considering the individual talent that Cork possess, that must be one of their major problems. You can go on all the warm-weather training camps you want, employ all the psychologists and sports scientists, get everything you ask for off the county board but if a team is not singing off the same hymn sheet, you are in trouble.
There has been a suggestion made that all of Cork’s planning went into the Munster final against Kerry. But as a team that were relegated from Division 1, the Rebels couldn’t afford to take anyone lightly — no matter what history has told them. In the modern game, every team is meticulously prepared. If a county side’s focus is off, they will get caught.
There will have been a lot of soulsearching in Cork this week, but the next fortnight is critical for this team. If they were to go out tamely in the qualifiers, it will do untold damage to football in the county. The survival of Cork as a team at the top table in Gaelic football is at stake.
So, this current crop of players will have to put thoughts of playing football in Croke Park in August completely out of their minds and simply try to restore some pride in the famous jersey.