Now meet the Rebel Ostrich

Cork GAA has its head stuck in the sand if it thinks it can get by without outside help

IT IS too early to say if it was just the clearing of a throat or the start of a revolution, but Cork GAA has managed to unearth a dissenting voice. Coaching officer Kevin O’Donovan grabbed the microphone, and the headlines, at a county board meeting last month in the aftermath of the hurlers’ defeat to Tipperary and declared a crisis.

‘It’s a hot topic, and it’s never raised at this board but I see a role for a director of hurling and a director of football,’ O’Donovan told delegates.

Such independence of thought is not common in the upper echelons of the Cork County Board and it led to some concern for the brave officer’s future, with rumours that he had been disappeared and was seen chairing a Scór na nÓg sub-committee charged with addressing the declining standards of the jig.

Happily that was without substance and he was back this week, calling for a debate as the county absorbed a first football defeat to Tipperary in 72 years.

‘I’m not going to go into a board meeting after a loss like last Sunday’s and stay silent,’ he declared.

That meeting will take place next month, but there is no evidence to suggest that Cork have it in them to tackle what is now a deadly and perfect storm. Hurlers and footballers in a heap, there is no-one without blame for where they are at, but ultimately this is a governance issue.

That is not to absolve the players in either code – they have not, as a collective, been smart, brave or good enough. It does not absolve their team managements – there has been a deficit in leadership and tactical nous – but ultimately it is the lack of a vision and of a co-ordinated approach that continues to dog Cork.

It seems almost lazy, and far too easy, to lay all of their ills at the door of their most powerful official, but some things are unavoidable.

If Frank Murphy was the CEO of a business that was once a brand leader and blessed with more resources than any of his competitors – they have a massive 259 clubs, almost double Dublin’s 134 – and had to stand over these results before stake-holders, he would have had reason to be nervous.

He has been the constant; the most powerful and influential voice on successive appointments committees that latterly have not come close to delivering the quality of leaders needed.

Cork has gone from the strongest force in Munster hurling to its weakest county – Kerry operate out of Leinster – inside a decade. In football, while Dublin set a high bar of winning the All-Ireland every other year, Cork hide behind their underwhelming past and are happy to raise their heads once in a while. It is also too easy to suggest that the redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh has become an unnecessary distraction, but that also is hard to avoid. The resources that have been drained – the final costs are expected to run north of €80 million – into a stadium whose capacity will hardly be stress-tested, boggles the mind. It is even worse when you consider that they will get one extra pitch for all that lolly, while across the county bounds in Kerry, they continue to charm dollars by the skip load to help fund a centre of excellence that will provide six pitches at a minute fraction of the cost. The reality, given Cork’s size, is that they could do with three regional centres of excellence to tap into the wealth at their disposal. It would, you suspect, serve as a far better legacy than what the locals have taken to calling Páirc Ui Franc. It is not all bad, though. Last year, Cork had a clean sweep in hurling from Under 14 to 17 level at Munster and All-Ireland level, while their footballers were also dominant at provincial level.

The minor football management this year made the brave and correct step of not facilitating dual players, a major departure in the county where hurling snobbery which dictates that there is no such thing as a dual player, just hurlers who play football.

But under age talent, even though it could be husbanded better, is not the issue. Cork have won 10 of the last 13 Munster U21 football championships, but Kerry have managed to squeeze as much, if not more, from teams that were serially beaten in that age group.

Cork need structure, not least directors in both codes to oversee their development, but more than that they need outside help with their flagship teams. There was much to admire in Jimmy Barry Murphy’s honesty in the run-up to the 2013 All-Ireland final when he was moved to admit that he did not do tactics, but it also jarred that such a shortcoming was not deemed to be an impediment to becoming a Cork manager.

They continue to struggle to find top class managers because they are in short supply – their pained search to replace Brian Cuthbert underlined that and they were left with a rookie manager in Peadar Healy who answered a call but whose CV was light – and yet they will not look outside for help.

If they did, they would most likely have a path beaten to their door by the very best that are out there, such is the county’s untapped potential. But that’s back to governance and a sense of false pride that continues to blind.