STATE OF FLUX
Cork boss Ricken needs to find balance between youth and nous… quickly
NOSTALGIA junkies will get their fix today in Navan when Meath and Cork get it together in a game of ball that neither dares lose. It is kind of like the way it used to be when they met in four All-Ireland finals from 1987 to 1990 – fuelling a rivalry that quickly turned poisonous before the passing of Cork’s legendary goalkeeper John Kerins allowed good sense and better perspective to prevail.
More than 30 years on, though, and any residue of toxicity is now channelled at both teams by their disillusioned supporters, alarmed at how far these once great counties have fallen.
The teams that once dared not lose because the Sam Maguire was on the line, dare not lose today because, should they fall into Division 3, they may not even get the chance to make up the numbers in the race for Sam this summer.
Cork have already pulled the short Kerry straw in the Munster semi-final, and should Leinster – a draw yet to be competed – put Meath on the same side as Dublin, the provincial championship is unlikely to offer a reprieve from the Tailteann Cup if they lose their Division 2 status.
There is a difference, however. There is an acceptance in Meath that Andy McEntee has hit the point of no return and his sixth year in charge of the Royals will also be his last one, whereas Keith Ricken is just starting out.
Inevitably, that frames Cork’s position at the bottom of Division 2 in a more forgiving context; one which Ricken was quick to stress after their nine-point defeat to Derry last month.
‘There’s no magic switch. Derry have gone all the way down to the bottom (tier) to get all the way back. It may be a pattern that we have to fall into.
‘Hopefully we won’t but it does take time and we will give it time and the energy that it deserves. We’re not going to go away.’ While it is true that the road to redemption cannot be travelled without belief, it is important that it is accompanied with a map. What is likely to discomfort Cork football folk in this regard is that, right now, there only seems to be a rough sketch of good intentions, focused primarily on what Ricken does best – developing young players.
Ricken’s track record is almost exclusively in that area, with the exception of having steered his own city-based St Vincent’s club to a county intermediate title in 2012.
Otherwise, getting the best out of young talent has become his managerial trademark; leading CIT (now MTU Cork) to a first Sigerson Cup title in 2009 and, 10 years later in his first season, leading the county to a first AllIreland Under-20 title.
It is little surprise, therefore, that he has delved straight into those reserves of youth. In his first four games, he has given 30 players game-time, with almost half of that number (13) making their inter-county debuts.
If it is surprising that only three of those rookies – Mark Cronin, Fionn Herlihy and Daniel O’Connell – come from his All-Ireland winning team of 2019, it is only because his predecessor Ronan McCarthy had already tapped that well.
Incredibly, 11 of that side have already been blooded in senior inter-county football. That can either be interpreted as a reflection of an exceptional underage team or a sign of Cork’s desperation. The early indicator is that it may be the latter given that, since the start of 2017, more than 90 players have featured for Cork.
After such a poor start, his decision to lean heavily on youth will shine a light on those experienced players who either retired, were cut or declined an invite to return this season.
Kevin O’Driscoll, Ruari Deane, Michael Hurley, Mark Collins, Luke Connolly and the White brothers, Seán and Mark, all departed for various reasons.
That is not necessarily a bad thing.
While Cork are not winning, the scrutiny of management will continue
While many had experience on their side, a lot had outings they would rather forget, most recently in last summer’s record defeat to Kerry.
However, some of those now missing would undoubtedly provide leadership and quality to a squad shy in both.
Perhaps, none more than Mark White, given Cork’s vulnerability off the kicking tee, which was exposed brutally in last year’s Munster final when Micheal Martin’s hanging restarts amounted to an invite for an aggressive Kerry press and its inevitable consequences. Ricken
has turned to Éire Óg’s goalkeeper Chris Kelly to solve the problem in recent games, but 23-year-old White remains their best option off the kicking tee, while he is also the most comfortable in providing the extra man out field, which is the game’s current trend.
Adding to their defensive discomfort, arguably the two best inside defenders in the county championship, White’s older brother Seán and Sam Ryan, are not part of the squad either.
What is unclear is whether Ryan, along with the White brothers, were invited back in and declined or were just ignored, but either way their absence has limited Ricken’s options and his team’s security at the back.
And while Cork are not winning, the scrutiny of the new management team will only increase.
It is unlikely to faze Ricken, who takes almost an evangelical approach to his management, insisting that the development of the person takes priority over all else. It is a healthy approach, particularly at underage level, but one of the challenges in making the step-up to senior level is that player development must be married to hard-nosed pragmatism.
College and inter-county underage football is not as heavily layered tactically as the senior game and that is another area where Ricken may also have to adjust.
In last year’s All-Ireland U20 semifinal, Ricken chose to press up, leaving the kind of generous space that allowed the Leinster side to strike for three decisive goals.
There were echoes of that last time out when they lost to Galway in a game where Páirc Uí Chaoimh’s electronic scoreboard threatened to blow a fuse as the visitors ran out 3-22 to 2-17 winners.
Former Galway manager Kevin Walsh, who attended the game, admitted he was baffled by Cork’s set-up when quizzed on it by Oisín McConville on an Irish Examiner podcast the following Monday.
‘There was a lot of individual stuff, it was wide open. There were little things, like two kick-outs that went over the midfield and you have the three Cork full-backs standing behind their men, so the ball bounced twice after the kick-out landed and the Galway forward was still able to get onto it.
‘For me, that is awfully naive,’ insisted Walsh.
To be fair to Ricken, he has not been blessed with good fortune. On the treatment table are his three top defenders in Seán Powter, Seán Meehan and Liam O’Donovan – the latter with a long-term issue. Meanwhile, the most gifted of all his young talent, Conor Corbett, is still rehabbing from a cruciate ligament injury.
And there have been some green shoots, Blake Murphy’s form has carried from underage, while Steven Sherlock has blossomed as a genuine strike forward option in his first two appearances under the new manager.
And, of course, today represents the first round of the mini-league that matters most, with fellow relegation contenders Down and Offaly to follow.
Their most winnable fixtures are ahead of them, while time is still on Ricken’s side.
Mind, time is only what you make of it.