A team of King Billy and Paudie could lead Cork

WHAT the hell do you say about a thing like that? Other than to throw your hands up in the air and wonder where the hell has it been all along? Where was that against Waterford? Where was that against Tipp? Against Kerry?

If anything it’s more frustrating to see a performance that good than it would be to witness another anaemic display. That way at least you could rationalise it. Just not good enough. A bad year. Put in a pin in it. Move on.

This way you’re left scratching your head. Would the real Cork please stand up?

Some would argue that they did on Saturday. One-time Cork player Brian Hurley – brother of second half sub Michael and out this season with a serious injury – was rather bullish on the subject.

“Let’s cut the shit!” he tweeted in the wake of the Rebels’ performance in the Gaelic Grounds.

“About time these boys got the respect they deserve. Boys being carried off the field, was a warrior of a performance!!!”

The cheap thing to do would be to point out that as good and all as it was, Saturday still ended in defeat for the Rebels. So we’re not going to do that. We’re instead going to agree with Hurley.

It was a warrior of a performance. It was thrusting and energetic, bolshie and brave. In other words, in no way consistent with anything Cork had shown all season. It’s not even accurate to say Cork are a side bedevilled by inconsistency.

Cork had been consistently mediocre this season. Until the point at which they weren’t. What does that tell us? That Cork have the potential to be a good team? Or that they simply played above themselves on this one occasion?

It’s not without precedence for Cork to round out the season with a rousing – albeit unsuccessful – performance. Last year it was against Donegal in Croke Park. It suggested that finally a corner had been turned, that the true potential of the side had been tapped into, that next year would be better than the last.

Look how that turned out. The last thing Cork needs is another false dawn. It’s for that reason that we can’t be quite as ebullient as Brian Hurley and it’s for that reason we feel it was right for Peadar Healy to step away from the job of manager.

Cork need a new vision and a new direction and Healy – honourable and brave and all that he is – wasn’t the man to provide it and, what’s more, by the end he knew it. Nothing in the job became him like the leaving it.

Where that leaves Ger Lane and the Cork County Board is with a massive opportunity. An opportunity to put Cork football back on its feet by appointing the right man at the right time.

Equally it’s an opportunity to get it wrong and have Cork fall back even further than they already have done and, Saturday notwithstanding, Cork did go backwards during Healy’s tenure.

No pressure then on Lane and co. It’s just the most significant managerial appointment he’s likely to take during his tenure as board chairman. The appointment process needs to be a lot tighter than the one which led to Healy’s appointment.

That one just seemed to drag on and on and on and, actually, forget about it seeming to, it did drag on and on. By all means take your time, get the right man for the job, just do it within reason.

Think outside the box. Don’t limit the scope of the search. Consider an outside manager. Considering one doesn’t mean you have to go with one. Just don’t rule it out before thinking it through.

More than likely Cork won’t. They’re too proud a county. Too big a county. There’s a tradition of excellence that Cork could and should tap into. A couple of former managers have been mentioned in relation to the role – notably Conor Counihan and Billy Morgan.

Morgan’s potential candidacy – promoted strongly by Tomás Ó Sé on Sunday evening – is the more intriguing of the two possibilities. If there’s one thing Morgan could do it would be to get everybody on board.

The man is the living embodiment of Cork football. His appointment would be the most emotionally satisfying and it’s not like he’s not kept his eye in with top class football through his involvement with UCC.

A bigger question would be whether Morgan would want it, a third spell in the trenches. If asked he’d probably accept the call to serve, but would that be a fair thing to ask of the man who’s done more for Cork football than most?

A better solution, perhaps, would be to pair Morgan with a younger manager, much like the role Mickey Whelan fulfilled with Pat Gilroy during his tenure as Dublin manager. Paudie Kissane could be the ideal man to team up with Morgan.

He’s Cork to the core. A guy who knows Cork football. A guy who’s coached two inter-county football teams now in Clare and Limerick. No doubt he’d relish the chance to lead his own.

Eamonn Fitzmaurice was younger when he first took the reins in Kerry. That he was a former team mate of a number of players didn’t seem to hold him back. It wouldn’t be a barrier either to Kissane.

The future awaits. All Cork have to do is reach out and

grab it.