‘We have the talent and the tradition to reply to this – I hope this is the day we do it’ says Tomás Mulcahy
IT DIDN’T escape the attention of Tomás Mulcahy that Roy Keane was a face in the crowd at Páirc Uí Rinn last weekend as the Cork footballers put on their Munster championship war-paint for the visit of Kerry. You can hear the pride in his voice as he talks about the county’s broad sporting tradition, mixed with a sense of defiance that the senior hurling team need to channel in this afternoon’s season-defining fixture against Waterford at Walsh Park.
His Glen Rovers clubmate Patrick Horgan stands on the cusp of history. Horgan has long since passed Christy Ring in the all-time scoring charts, he is just seven points away from taking the top slot off Joe Canning. And, yet, because his career has coincided with Cork’s greatest senior hurling drought – one stretching all the way back to 2005 – he still doesn’t have the Celtic Cross his talent deserves.
It’s mid-May and Cork are also facing a whitewash after three rounds of the round-robin which
People ring me saying they feel sorry for Cork – nobody should feel sorry for us
will leave them out of not just Munster but the All-Ireland. Yet Mulcahy – an All-Ireland winning captain in 1990 and a long-time analyst of the game – sounds his own battle cry for this bunch of players.
‘We can’t give up. Cork never gave up. We’re a proud sporting county. Whether it’s hurling, football, soccer, athletics, we’re an unbelievably proud county. And I don’t think anything will be said against the team if they go down and give it their all and come up short – once they give it their all.
‘That hasn’t happened for the last couple of matches.
‘As a former player, I had bad days as well as good days. When the bad day comes, there must be a reaction. Between everybody in the dressing room.
‘Talk to Dónal Óg (Cusack) or Seán Óg (Ó hAilpín) or John Gardiner – they had days like that as well. But it’s about finding something then within the group.
‘I’ve people ringing me from up and down the country and saying they feel sorry for us. I don’t buy that. Nobody should be feeling sorry for Cork. Nobody.
‘We have the talent. We have the tradition within our own county to reply to this. And I’m hoping this is the day we do it.’
Mulcahy says that means being brave in a tactical sense. Keeping more players like Horgan up the field rather than flooding the middle third and trying to run the ball at every opportunity – an approach that both Limerick and Clare have ruthlessly pursued in the two matches so far.
‘There is no point having Hoggie inside, and everybody else gone out the field. And you’ve three or four defenders back, circling the wagons around him. Whether he’s Mo Salah, Messi or Ronaldo, he has no chance. No chance.
‘Same with Alan Connolly or Shane Kingston if they have to go way out the field into a crowded area. I’d love to see us push on and put pressure on that Waterford full-back line. The start is incredibly important. If Waterford blitz us, it could be a long day.’
Mulcahy has played on Cork teams who had their backs against the wall, 1990 being the perfect example.
He is one of a celebrated roll-call featured in the recent Cork hurling edition of Game Of My Life. In his chapter, he recalls the ‘absolute disaster’ of the 1990 National League semi-final when they registered a single point from play.
There was a Cork team backed into a corner – who came out and won the All-Ireland. Some of the same criticisms were swirling around even then, about players not standing up to be counted. This feels just as seismic.
‘Big time. Back then we didn’t have any back door so if you didn’t produce the goods it was all over. This is our back door, our lastchance saloon. Would you think we could be gone out of the Championship in early May? Tipperary gone out of the championship in early May?
‘Getting to an All-Ireland final last year with a new team, a young team. There was a process in place in how we played the game.
‘Yes, we did get a hiding in the All-Ireland final but maybe people accepted it that things just didn’t go well on the day. That we would learn from it and move on.
‘And we got to a League final this year. I’ve been to all the matches. I was there at the Gaelic Grounds for the League game against Limerick and it was very polished.
‘We had to show something after playing them three times last year in League, Munster and All-Ireland and being defeated three times. There was a physicality about us that day which I enjoyed because our hurling shone through in the end. ‘I did say coming out of the ground that Limerick performed like a team who were stuck to the ground. I saw Kyle Hayes and he couldn’t bend to pick a ball, Tom Morrissey going in to corner-forward to block a defender and he couldn’t get out to the 21-yard line. So they were going through their own routine in terms of physical training and gym work. ‘Still, it was important for that Cork team to lay down a marker. Against Galway and Kilkenny in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, we finished strongly. But it’s gone drastically wrong.
‘Getting to a League final was great but we needed to go there and win it. And it was a big disappointment on the day, the performance against Waterford.
‘You go play Limerick then and they are a notch ahead, but if you say we gave it a great shot, had a cut off them, made it hard – we could take that into the rest of the matches. But it didn’t happen against Limerick – or against Clare.
So now it leaves going to Walsh Park to get a result.’
He is saddened to learn of Cork players opting off social media accounts due to the level of personalised abuse.
‘I hate to hear and see what’s happening on social media with players. It’s an absolute disgrace.
‘Some of the players I believe have had to come off social media – and that’s from the abuse within our own county. That’s not right. It’s still an amateur game.
‘I hope these guys are locked away for the week. That they come out and play with the fight that we need to see.
‘People would have commented on the process, which is fine, but you have to have a Plan B when it’s not working.
‘The management obviously believe in this very strongly because it hasn’t changed but the opposition have obviously copped on to what we’re doing. When the opposition have copped on, there is an element that needs to change.
‘There is nothing wrong if Mark Coleman or Tim O’Mahony gets a ball in space that they hit it. Put the ball in behind. I’d love to see us push up a bit more with our forward line.
‘If you’re a Cork supporter, or a former player or present player, your summer revolved around Munster final day, or All-Ireland semi-finals or finals.
‘We had that last year and 2018 and 2013. So it’s not all doom and gloom. But we need a performance to rescue our season. That puts pressure on Waterford. They’ll have to go to Clare to get a result. We have to win.
‘People said about Tipperary that they would get hammered going to Limerick last weekend but there was so much pride in the jersey.
‘That’s what I want to see. The players giving it their all. That every little bone in your body must creak afterwards with hurt.’
We need a performance to rescue our season. We have to win