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Cork GAA Discussion Thread

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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 13,264 ✭✭✭✭Fireball07


    The uncovered stand is great in the sun.....wanted to be in the terrace for the Tipp-Limerick match but queues on the day were mad. I think it's a bit of a pity they didn't have two terraces open tbh.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,367 ✭✭✭Thinkstoomuch


    John Gardiner is on Championship matters now on Rte 2.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,367 ✭✭✭Thinkstoomuch


    The Cork team to play Clare Sunday is

    1.Anthony Nash Kanturk
    2.Stephen Mcdonnell Glen Rovers
    3.Brian Murphy Bride Rovers capt
    4.Connor O Sullivan Sarsfields
    5.Shane O Neill Bishopstown
    6.Christpher Joyce Na Piarsaigh
    7.Willlam Egan Kilbrin
    8.Tom Kenny Grenagh
    9. Daniel Kearney Sarsfields
    10.Cian Maccarthy Sarsfields
    11. Seamus Harndey St Itas
    12.Conor Lehane Midelton
    13. Stephen Moylan Douglas
    14.Luke O Farell Midelton
    15.Pat Horgan Glen Rovers

    Subs

    16.Darren Mccarthy Ballmartyle
    17.Killan Murphy Erins Own
    18.Patrick O Mahony Midelton
    19. Cathal Naughton Newtownshandrum
    20. Mark Ellis Milstreet
    21.Pa Cronin Bishopstown
    22.Bud Hartnett Midelton
    23.Jamie Coughlan Newtownshandrum
    24.Michael Cussen Sarsfields
    25. Rob O Shea Carrigaline
    26.Stephen White Ballygarvan


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,367 ✭✭✭Thinkstoomuch


    I thought that would be the team bar one player I was wrong.He left Cussen out.
    And he starts Mcdonnell at corner back than half back but that could change during the game with Shane O Neill.

    All in all it is the strongest team he could have picked with all the injuries bar Kenny starting.I can only presume Michael O Sullivan is injured as he not on the panel.
    Harnedy deserves the chance.Whatever happens he deserves at least three games to show hes worth.He is been thrown in to the lions den so should not be discarded after one championship game.Do not do a Denis Walsh,start Kevin Canty,then after one game never use him again.
    Id prefer to see Killan Murphy in the corner to release Mcdonnell or o neill to midfield instead of Kenny.

    The subs will be crucial on Sunday.Its doubtful Cian Mac will last a full game at half forward so I hope the first subs used are Coughlan O Shea and Hartnett.
    The latter two are untested but such is our lack of strength in depth
    Two possible goal getters in Coughlan and Harnett.

    He got the first part right in naming more or less the strongest team availble for Sunday,it is imperative its not one step forward and two steps back.I hope Cussen and Naughton are not used at all barring injury and absoulte necessity.

    Jbm has made mistakes during the league but credit due tonight the fact he did not name Cussen to start or White or Naughton.

    Its a huge ask with Spillane,Cronin,Pebbles ,Mcloughlin and Niall Mac,Sweetnham,and a half fit Coughlan but i have a bit more hope in this team than what i expected.
    Peter O Brien and Mick Walsh both start for the intermediates.It a shame their not even on the bench.

    Harnedy is the key.He adds a physical presence Cork needed.He is very raw but hes on form at the moment.A little bit of hope in what has been a dismal few weeks for Cork Hurling.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,995 ✭✭✭zetecescort


    the best we can name I guess. Have seen very little of Harnedy but if he's a puck out option great. would have Coughlan myself but then he's not strong in the air and maybe lacking match practice.

    All I ask is that we hurl for 70+ minutes and chase every ball as if our lives depend on it and take whatever comes after that.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,367 ✭✭✭Thinkstoomuch


    Interestingly there is a world of difference between Clare and Corks devolpment of future stars in the naming of the intermediate teams for sunday..Clare will name a bulk of U21s and guys hoping to break on their team down the line and senior.

    Cork have a host of journey men to a sense,guys that have been on or around the senior panel and failed to make the step up,but yet play sunday.That is of no use to Cork going forward.
    Okay we have won all irelands at intermediate level the last few years but with guys that are just stuck at this level bar a few exceptions.
    Cork would be much better going with youth.The Clare team is run in parell with the U21 team.

    A lot of these guys win or loose on Sunday have a game under their belt considering their not playing in the U21 grade for another few weeks.

    Cork have 3 guys in Colm Barry,Mark Sugrue and Nicky kelly that are on the bench.These guys could well do with a run out as they are on the U21 team but have not played yet unlike tipp who have a game under their belt.

    Tadhg Healy,Ross Cashman and Eoin Dillion have all served Cork well at this grade before but are never going to be senior level players.They have had their chance.

    Tadhg Healy must be over 30 at least.He won a minor all ireland with Cork in 2001 but he never is going to make senior.A great servant at this level but no benfit in the development of Cork hurling at senior.

    Peter O Brien,Mick Walsh and Adrian Mannix all statt.Like I said i think they shoudnt have been dropped.But its clear the management dont rate them so these guys shoudnt play intermediate then.It should be players after U21 and not later than 25 or 26.
    Martin Coleman is in goal.Again Coleman is a fine keeper.But he has been around the senior set up for years and coudnt make it.

    Surely another young keeper is worth a shot.
    The only good thing Ger fitzgerald actually said while in charge of the U21s was he wanted to see this brought in to Cork Hurling.
    The likes of John Cronin for example was on the U21 team last year.He is starting.There is a few young players their but they should be a lot more.
    He is now still in the system.Thats the way it should be.

    The game should be interesting.They drew in a challenge match earlier in the year.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,367 ✭✭✭Thinkstoomuch


    the best we can name I guess. Have seen very little of Harnedy but if he's a puck out option great. would have Coughlan myself but then he's not strong in the air and maybe lacking match practice.

    All I ask is that we hurl for 70+ minutes and chase every ball as if our lives depend on it and take whatever comes after that.

    Id agree.Once we gave it our all we cant do anymore.The Munster Clermount rubgy game should be shown over and over again to the team to show what true effort is in the face of adversity.

    If they can produce half the effort Munster put in we would be doing well.
    Harnedy won't dominate Bulger and wont need to but just keep him honest and limit him.

    Harnedy is raw in the sense he can some times take terrible shots or the wrong option.He is inexpierenced.But he will run hard,mix it and is not afraid to go for goals either.
    He can score ,i just feel at times he trys to force the score.
    He plays with a lot of passion.
    He would get a score and be clinching the fist etc .The type of player we are lacking.
    He was out played for a good part of UCC against Mary I but then he never gave up.He kept trying.Then he got a super goal after missing a few chances.
    He had two choices.One was to sulk and the let game pass him by.The one he took though,was he instead took control of the game and forgot about hes poor start.It was a case of next ball that counts.

    Now granted that their is a huge gap in class between colledges and Intercounty but at least he showed the right attuide in those games.
    In every challenge game last year and this year he impressed.Unlike some players not just one offs.In the first outing this year for UCC against Cork in Jan,he scored a load of points.It was a meaningless game but he showed a willingness on a cold winters day to make an effort.

    In what is lacking in some of our players at least effort is a start.He seems to have it.

    While those games wont alone play you in to a team they can certainly play you off it if you dont impress like in the case of some of our other players.

    He wasnt that bad in hes brief league apperances,certainly no worse than others.He is athletic enough too.Thats why he is CF instead of Cian Mccarthy.

    He deserves a chance.But he shouldnt be judged on one game.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,218 ✭✭✭Henno30


    What's Cork's solution to the puckout shambles of the league game going to be? Cronin's absence obviously makes it all the more important that they have one.

    I can see them trying to replicate the Tipp strategy of trying to create one on one's under the puckout myself, with the objective being not to catch it but to let the ball hit the ground and run through. The pace and sharpness of Lehane, Horgan, and O'Farrell will come into play then.

    It worked a few times for them in the league playoff but because they'd no plan B, the Clare half-backline sat a bit deeper and Galvin dropped back and started sweeping up the breaks. And that was that. Clare demolished them on the puckout from there on.

    I think if you're going to adopt that approach you have to be working a short/mid-range option as well, keeping the opposing half-backline honest and stopping them from sitting too deep. That's what killed Dublin against Clare last year. They went way too direct and allowed the Clare backs to all operate within 35 yards of their own goal, making it next to impossible to create space even if a Dublin forward did win the ball.

    The antidote to that is to punish the back if he doesn't follow his man out the field by feeding that guy the ball. The same applies with the puckout. But for whatever reason, possibly it was fitness, Cork just didn't want to work the ball up the field from the puckout in that league playoff. Either the energy or the organisation wasn't there.

    If they're to win Sunday that's something they'll have to have rectified. If they haven't, it's a serious indictment of the management.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,367 ✭✭✭Thinkstoomuch


    An article in the paper about David Matthews-
    Nothing casts fear and self-doubt into the mind of an athlete quite like the last slow walk to the starting line.

    No one knows this better than David Matthews. Hand-picked as Cork’s fitness trainer by Jimmy Barry-Murphy, on his return to management two years ago, Matthews is still the only Irishman to run the 800m in under one minute and 45 seconds – his 1:44.82, from 1995, also naturally still standing as the Irish record.

    Matthews may have retired some 13 years ago, aged just 26, a little burnt out perhaps from running two Olympics, three World Championships, and eight other major championships in the space of seven years, but he’s now meticulously absorbed in the sports science business, acutely aware too that sport can never be an exact science. Matthews is thus the man charged with getting Cork’s match fitness up to race pace for Sunday’s Munster semi-final showdown against Clare – both the joy and challenge in that being Cork haven’t played any competitive hurling since losing the division 1A relegation play-off, to Clare, back on April 14th.

    That, in other words, will be 10 full weeks, or 70 long days, or two and a half months – and for any county hurler must feel like an eternity. “I know all athletes would have this perception of being ‘rusty’ if they hadn’t raced like that, in a long while,” says Matthews. “For Cork, truthfully, the long break has been a great help, allowed us to bring them back down, then build them all up again.  ‘Top-class training’ “We’ve been lucky as well that we got a good run of weather. The ground has been hard, the grass cut low at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, which has made for some top-class training. I don’t know if we’d have got the same amount of work done if we’d spent the whole time in Portugal or somewhere like that. Because these players have buckets of pace right now. “So fitness won’t less us down on Sunday.

    That’s one less thing to worry about because Clare, we know for sure, will present a huge, huge challenge.” This is not based on some loose theory – but rather the performance in a run of challenge games (against Limerick, Tipperary, Galway, and the Cork under-21s) and also some tailor-made training runs: “Now, you can say what you like about challenge games, but the important thing is what you put into them, and so what you take out.

    You can’t control what the opposing team puts out, but Cork have taken a lot from those challenge games. “But effectively I had them for a six-week run, to work on fitness. I can say there has been some dramatic improvement in their aerobic capacity during that time, as well as maintaining the so-called strength work. I would say 70 per cent of the training sessions during that time were on match fitness. ‘Repeat sessions’ “But we’d also repeat sessions, over a 10-day cycle, so that players would have some tangible evidence of how they were progressing, whether that was over a 180m sprint, or simply lining up against each other.”

    Barry-Murphy was quick to dismiss Cork’s relegation, at least in the short-term, and Matthews backs it up: Cork were in a entirely different phase of training during that period, which for better or for worse, didn’t quite get them over the line in a couple of very tight games. “The purpose, when we set out on 2013, was to improve all the time. Last year, it was mostly about improving speed. This year has been more focused on strength. Some players still looked a little underdeveloped. Now, this year, Conor Lehane, for example, has added 5kg of pure muscle mass. Chris Joyce as well.

    Michael Cussen has got himself back into superb shape. Brian Murphy, Shane O’Neill, Cian McCarthy, these guys are definitely in the best shape of the last two years. “Balance is key. I’m of the belief that these are athletes, who happen to be hurlers, but they’re also juggling three or four different balls at the same time, between college, club commitments, whatever. And why I believe hurling is the greatest ball game in the world.

    These guys need the fitness of athletes and the touch of surgeon, more so when in oxygen debt. “Now, the last two weeks has been about keeping them fresh. Tapering, as any athlete will tell you, is a sort of Holy Grail, hard to find, but key to getting things right. But June 23rd has been earmarked all year, as the date. There’s no point in planning to peak for late August when you could just as easily be sitting on a beach in Portugal. We’ve been timing everything for Sunday.”


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,367 ✭✭✭Thinkstoomuch


    The article on David Matthews is interesting.He is full of self belief and not lacking confidence.
    By what JBM has said and by what he said is saying Cork should have no problem with fitness on Sunday.

    He has put himself in the spotlight by praising hes own methods.
    I have been sceptical to be honest about the conditioning of our lads compared to KK etc.I have not see anything to convince me yet Cork are physically in parell with the rest and while he talks the talk ,he still has to prove it.

    Bar Lehane who has by matthews reckoning has put on around 10 pounds,I did not notice much of a difference in the team.Lehane definetly needed to bulk up after Fergal Moore massive tackle last year.

    I Hope Matthews is right and it will come good sunday.Reading that you would have no worries. But self praise is no praise.Sunday will tell if what he has said is just all talk or if he is indeed a master of he's own science in the type of training he has been doing.
    The proof of the pudding is in its eating.Sunday is a good test.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 2,218 ✭✭✭Henno30


    The article on David Matthews is interesting.He is full of self belief and not lacking confidence.
    By what JBM has said and by what he said is saying Cork should have no problem with fitness on Sunday.

    He has put himself in the spotlight by praising hes own methods.
    I have been sceptical to be honest about the conditioning of our lads compared to KK etc.I have not see anything to convince me yet Cork are physically in parell with the rest and while he talks the talk ,he still has to prove it.

    Bar Lehane who has by matthews reckoning has put on around 10 pounds,I did not notice much of a difference in the team.Lehane definetly needed to bulk up after Fergal Moore massive tackle last year.

    I Hope Matthews is right and it will come good sunday.Reading that you would have no worries. But self praise is no praise.Sunday will tell if what he has said is just all talk or if he is indeed a master of he's own science in the type of training he has been doing.
    The proof of the pudding is in its eating.Sunday is a good test.

    Came across as having a touch of 'positive thinking' about it to me. Teams are always telling themselves that kind of stuff in the run up to big games.

    The thing to remember is that the disproportionate level of attention given to Clare's fitness has an impact on both teams. It gives the Clare lads huge belief in their own ability to sustain a furious pace to the end and it creates a niggling doubt in the opposition that they're not going to be able to stay with these guys.

    Loughnane himself said that the level of publicity he drummed up about Clare's fitness and training methods in the 90s was for this exact purpose.

    As far as Cork are concerned, I think what they're saying exactly mirrors the talk out of Limerick in the run up to the championship game with Tipp. They weren't fit enough for Clare in the league, but they'd supposedly corrected it with an intense six week program after the league ended. Whether it was fitness related or not, they still fell apart in the last 15 minutes against Tipp in the championship.

    Another thing to note about Clare is that they have loads of pacey, skillful players around the middle third. Regardless of who's fitter than who, they're always going to have more of an impact as the game 'opens up' as it often tends to do in the final quarter of big games.

    Maybe it's less about fitness and more about the way shape of the game changes as it progresses.


  • Registered Users, Moderators, Education Moderators, Sports Moderators, Regional South Moderators Posts: 15,247 Mod ✭✭✭✭rebel girl 15


    Cork U14s added another All Ireland title for ladies football in the county by beating Kildare in the final today. Seniors play Kerry tomorrow at 2pm, live on Radio Kerry!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,367 ✭✭✭Thinkstoomuch


    A huge week it is for Cork Gaa.
    The ladies are showing the way so far,with the football win earlier and the Senior Camoige team beating Tipp today.

    The footballers will hopefully do the job in kerry tommorrow.

    A huge week for Cork hurling starting tommorrow.Tommorrow is a huge game in Limerick and then Wednesday night the minor hurlers face Waterford in the Pairc.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,367 ✭✭✭Thinkstoomuch


    As posted by one of the Clare lads in their thread


    Clare team to play Cork in Munster Hurling

    1 Patrick Kelly
    2 Domhnall O'Donovan
    3 David McInerney
    4 Cian Dillon
    5 Brendan Bugler
    6 Pat Donnellan
    7 Pat O'Connor
    8 Colm Galvin
    9 Nicky O'Connell
    10 John Conlon
    11 Tony Kelly
    12 Colin Ryan
    13 Conor McGrath
    14 Darach Honan
    15 Padraic Collins


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 42 piplin


    It's a year like this Cork could do the double. I wouldn't write it off you know.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 32,021 CMod ✭✭✭✭ShamoBuc


    piplin wrote: »
    It's a year like this Cork could do the double. I wouldn't write it off you know.

    Just back from the pub?

    The footballers have a chance but might be held back by the non existence of a plan B from the management.

    The hurlers won't be winning Liam for quite a few years yet - fact.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,367 ✭✭✭Thinkstoomuch


    Morey is out.Good news for Cork.
    Nicky o connell is a good hurler though.
    Still though that is a very strong clare team particulary at half back and half forward and they have a strong bench.

    If the Cork half forward line can restrict the amount of attacks launched and prevent insane pressure on our half backline particulary in the second half ,I feel that O Neill,Joyce and Egan can hold their own.

    The half forward line will have to hold their own to have any chance.Clare scored over 20 points after half time the last day.They always seem to loose the first half in most of their games but go in to a different gear in the second.

    A lot talk and rightly so about Tony Kelly.But Colin Ryan is a big danger.Cork cannot give soft frees away.

    22 points he has got in the last 2 games against us,7 from play.

    It will have to be one hell of a performance for Cork to win.It would be a sweet victory given our cirumstances and the task we face.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,367 ✭✭✭Thinkstoomuch


    piplin wrote: »
    It's a year like this Cork could do the double. I wouldn't write it off you know.

    Not a hope.We had a much better chance in 99 and came up short.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,367 ✭✭✭Thinkstoomuch


    ShamoBuc wrote: »
    Just back from the pub?

    The footballers have a chance but might be held back by the non existence of a plan B from the management.

    The hurlers won't be winning Liam for quite a few years yet - fact.
    Unfortunately you are right on both fronts.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 42 piplin


    ShamoBuc wrote: »
    Just back from the pub?

    The footballers have a chance but might be held back by the non existence of a plan B from the management.

    The hurlers won't be winning Liam for quite a few years yet - fact.

    Oh ye of little faith :(

    What are you talking about? won't win another McCarthy for years, that's an anathema to true cork hurling gaels. Enough loser talk please. Of course my original post is highly aspirational but I wouldn't put it past Cork to come out of nowhere and scutter all over the rest of us. Unlikely as it may seem to be.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,367 ✭✭✭Thinkstoomuch


    piplin wrote: »
    Oh ye of little faith :(

    What are you talking about? won't win another McCarthy for years, that's an anathema to true cork hurling gaels. Enough loser talk please. Of course my original post is highly aspirational but I wouldn't put it past Cork to come out of nowhere and scutter all over the rest of us. Unlikely as it may seem to be.
    With all due respect that is just rubbish,Cork to come from nowhere to win an all ireland.
    The so called mushroom has been long gone and truly buried that was linked to Cork's success in the past.

    New seeds of young talent need to be planted in Cork before we can even think about an all ireland.Whatever happens tommorrow,any one clued in to Cork hurling will tell you that.You reap what you sow.Other counties are miles ahead of us in terms of future development.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,706 ✭✭✭premierstone


    piplin wrote: »
    Oh ye of little faith :(

    What are you talking about? won't win another McCarthy for years, that's an anathema to true cork hurling gaels. Enough loser talk please. Of course my original post is highly aspirational but I wouldn't put it past Cork to come out of nowhere and scutter all over the rest of us. Unlikely as it may seem to be.

    Its a myth and tbh too many people involved in Cork hurling had the same misconception for far too long and buried their heads in the sand when it was abvious the necessary work wasn't bee done at underage.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 32,021 CMod ✭✭✭✭ShamoBuc


    piplin wrote: »
    Oh ye of little faith :(

    What are you talking about? won't win another McCarthy for years, that's an anathema to true cork hurling gaels. Enough loser talk please. Of course my original post is highly aspirational but I wouldn't put it past Cork to come out of nowhere and scutter all over the rest of us. Unlikely as it may seem to be.

    You my misguided friend, are wrong, clearly wrong.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 42 piplin


    With all due respect that is just rubbish,Cork to come from nowhere to win an all ireland.
    The so called mushroom has been long gone and truly buried that was linked to Cork's success in the past.

    New seeds of young talent need to be planted in Cork before we can even think about an all ireland.Whatever happens tommorrow,any one clued in to Cork hurling will tell you that.You reap what you sow.Other counties are miles ahead of us in terms of future development.

    ok. My sincere apologies. Never in my lifetime has there been such a negative attitude emanating out of Cork. It's like a beautiful dog who no longer wags it's tail. Sad.
    Sow the seeds then and get it right, true gaels silently despair when we hear of a badly wounded Cork. Lets see what happens tomorrow.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 32,021 CMod ✭✭✭✭ShamoBuc


    piplin wrote: »
    ok. My sincere apologies. Never in my lifetime has there been such a negative attitude emanating out of Cork. It's like a beautiful dog who no longer wags it's tail. Sad.
    Sow the seeds then and get it right, true gaels silently despair when we hear of a badly wounded Cork. Lets see what happens tomorrow.

    Win, lose or draw later today, Liam is won in September, Cork will not be holding him that day - ' true gaels :rolleyes: ' know that already, others will have to wait for then to find that out.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 42 piplin


    ShamoBuc wrote: »
    Win, lose or draw later today, Liam is won in September, Cork will not be holding him that day - ' true gaels :rolleyes: ' know that already, others will have to wait for then to find that out.

    Good luck tomorrow enjoy the game and have a great day. :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,034 ✭✭✭Amprodude


    ShamoBuc wrote: »
    Win, lose or draw later today, Liam is won in September, Cork will not be holding him that day - ' true gaels :rolleyes: ' know that already, others will have to wait for then to find that out.

    Hope I'm not been too optimistic but if Cork could even win Munster this year it would be a great year. 2006 is along time waiting for a Munster title. Clare have a better panel of players no doubt but that doesn't mean we aren't capable of beating them or at least giving them a run for their money.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,295 ✭✭✭Horse84


    Good interview with JBM in the independent.

    The great, redemptive pilgrimage hasn't quite recommenced in Cork. Numbers are down, optimism low.

    Few men know better than Jimmy Barry-Murphy how the county's hurlers had a name, historically, for claiming sudden ownership of summer. Jim Barry's line of '66 still gets lazily recycled, a gentle but bogus wisdom that never really held up to serious scrutiny.

    The notion of Cork hurlers having the gift of rising "like mushrooms" overnight belongs in the realm of make-believe, particularly in a dominion familiar with black and amber stripes.

    "A load of rubbish," sighs Barry-Murphy. "It just doesn't happen. At least, not unless the opposition are average. And, right now, they aren't!"

    For a man whose time as a player was more a movie than a career, it would be understandable if the lost glory of Cork hurling offended his natural view of the world. But if Barry-Murphy has always been the epitome of sophistication in battle, he is also hostile to any notion of entitlement.

    Perhaps his return for a second stint as Cork manager articulated that humility best. For this, palpably, was no case of a golden ticket awaiting collection. Cork's last All-Ireland U-21 title was delivered in '98, their last minor crown three years later. The culture of winning has been lost.

    And now, as he prepares a just relegated senior team for championship, there is no doubting the prevailing vibe within the county. Cork haven't even reached a senior Munster final since '06, cultivating what Barry-Murphy terms "a lot of negativity" as they now attempt to bridge that gap.

    THREADBARE

    Tomorrow's opponents, Clare, have beaten his team three times already this season. That the third of those defeats was delivered through a threadbare, extra-time verdict seems to cut no ice with the sceptics. For it doomed Cork to an accursed drop into Division 1B of the National League.

    It was as if they left the league in ankle-chains.

    If there was an over-reaction to that predicament, it didn't necessarily surprise Barry-Murphy. "No one likes to be relegated," he says evenly. "And there seems to be terrible negativity about playing in 1B, but I wasn't looking at it that way at all.

    "We did it before when I was manager in 98/99. We were relegated and toured the country, played all the counties. We played Meath in Trim and won a very tough game. Played Laois in Rathdowney and they beat us. So, that doesn't worry me.


    "In actual fact, I believe it can give you a chance to bring younger players through, give them a chance to develop and see how it goes. As it happens, I thought we had quite a good league this year. We lost to Kilkenny by two points in Nowlan Park. A draw there and we'd have made the semi-final.

    "It was that fine a line."

    In '99, Cork built on the experience to become All-Ireland champions. That memory, though, seems quaint to the point of eccentricity now. For hurling is played on profoundly different terms today, lives being lived to a more complex beat.

    Through the winter, stories of disharmony within Barry-Murphy's management team stalked their every move. Social media was ablaze with rumour, half-truths and an assortment of elaborate fictions. Barry-Murphy's decision to let some decorated old soldiers go seemed to deepen the lust for bad news.

    Much of what passes for gossip in Cork hurling is still framed today in the Civil War language of the strikes. And, for those trying to move towards a better future, this obsession with the past is bewildering.

    As Barry-Murphy sees it: "I'm not on social media, but people tell me things, they show me things on phones I don't particularly want to see. I mean, earlier in the year there was a lot of negativity in Cork based on online websites within the county. When I heard what was being said, I was appalled.

    "But I attach no credence to it because the people writing that stuff don't put their name to anything. So, I just dismiss those people without even a thought. There's a lot of that in Cork though. When you've had the strikes and all that, with a massive amount of comment in relation to pro and anti, you still hear that stuff from people.

    "'So-and-so is with the strikers ... ' that kind of thing. When I took up this job, I had no interest whatsoever in that and I didn't get involved in any of it. My only interest was and is in Cork hurling.

    "I'm quite old-fashioned I suppose. I mean, you do get a lot of 'did you hear ... ' over something someone will have said on Twitter. A player tweets and the tweet is then put to you by the media. That's fair enough, because it's in the public domain then.

    "But it drives me mad. It's something I find frustrating in that you have tittle-tattle being followed up by people you'd expect better from."

    The fundamental creed of Barry-Murphy's Cork today is one that covets trust then. His decision to move on without iconic figures like Sean Og O hAilpin, John Gardiner and – maybe most pertinently – Donal Og Cusack was interpreted as some kind of mission statement.

    Cusack's departure drew Twitter criticism Barry-Murphy's way from, among others, last year's centre-back, Eoin Cadogan. The manager doesn't pretend to be indifferent to such calls.

    "No I don't portray myself as a hard man at all, far from it," he reflects. "I don't like doing that. But if I feel a decision has to be made for the benefit of the panel or the team, whether that's substituting players in big games or not starting players or leaving players off the panel, I'll do it.

    "There's a lot of players around Cork I'll tell you wouldn't be thinking too nicely of me for what I've done over the years. But my conscience is clear. If I'm wrong, I'll live by it no problem. It's all about trusting your judgment."

    ENERGY

    He still loves the energy of a hurling summer then, but loathes that hunger for an angle.

    The Cork panel has a policy of not tweeting anything in relation to team matters, albeit such strictures can never exactly be watertight. He describes the current group as "intensely dedicated" and eschews any temptation to lament the psychological cuts suffered through a combination of winter defections, injuries and – in team-captain Pa Cronin's case – illness.

    If relegation defined Cork's league campaign, it didn't truthfully represent their form. In a famously tight division, they paid for draws with Waterford and Galway and a narrow loss to Kilkenny.

    They beat Tipperary by 12 points at Pairc Ui Rinn before suffering the one, categorical setback of the campaign, a six-point loss to Clare at the same venue.

    That game hurt because, at the time, it left unanswered questions.

    "We'd been quite comfortable in that game without playing brilliantly," recalls Barry-Murphy. "Then Clare came out and literally ran riot in the second half. We didn't seem to have an answer to them and that was a worry. But we spoke about that and addressed it.

    "I was very impressed with Clare. They're superbly coached and superbly fit. Davy Fitzgerald has done a very good job with them."

    The subsequent relegation play-off carried a faint thread of recidivism in that Cork, again, failed to close out a game they could have won. But the margins this time were miniscule. "It was anyone's game," he remembers. "Had one or two things gone our way, we'd have escaped."

    To some degree, the relentless drain of personnel has clouded accurate assessment of progress on Barry-Murphy's first 18 months back at the helm.

    Cork ratcheted their fitness work under Dave Matthews to accommodate a decent league run last season, the strategy carrying them all the way to final day and a bruising reality check against Kilkenny. Cork's efforts were the equivalent to tossing paper airplanes at a tank.

    "Blown away by naivety mainly on the part of the back-room team," reflects Barry-Murphy. "I took a lot of the blame for that myself because I should have realised that, when there's silverware on display, the Kilkenny boys develop a different mindset. But that was a great lesson for us I thought."

    Cork would finish the year edged out of an entertaining All-Ireland semi-final by Galway. Objectively, there seemed a good deal more positives than negatives. It just didn't feel that way in Cork.

    "We were very competitive in that game against Galway, but that seemed to have been lost somewhere in the meantime," says Barry-Murphy. "Now maybe time will tell that they (the sceptics) are right.

    "But I thought last year was very encouraging and we're hoping that the young players who came through will be better again this year."

    He watches Kilkenny stockpile trophies and proclaims nothing but admiration for what they do. Indeed, he is bemused by those who allude to Kilkenny's physicality as some kind of dark side taken to an art form.

    "I'm a huge fan of Kilkenny's," says Barry-Murphy. "I mean I've read a lot of stuff about them playing on the edge and all the old cliches about being over the top. To me, it's a load of rubbish. They're a fantastic team. I think they're tough, hard and playing to the maximum of their abilities, something they achieve by massive dedication to hurling.

    "That's what I want to get in Cork. That's my only ambition. I mean people talk about Jackie Tyrrell, whom I think is a magnificent corner-back, being over-physical. It's rubbish. Tommy Walsh, the same.

    "The one advantage they have is their total focus is on hurling. That's a massive factor. We'd love to have that in Cork and it's what we're trying to attain.

    "I mean, realistically, you can think of three or four players who would be in our match-day panel for Clare this weekend if we only played hurling. But that's life in Cork. When you take on the job, you know all these minuses.

    "That said, I love the way Kilkenny play the game. I like the manly way they take it. And I love the way they take their defeat when they're beaten and just get on with it. That's the way I want to be."

    He believes that, in time, Cork can again be in a position to challenge the stripey men, but only if they commit to doing so on their own terms. "You play the cards you've been dealt," he says. "I don't think we can play their style of hurling. We've a different type of player.

    "I mean I constantly hear people in Cork pining for 'big, strong men.' Big, strong men who are useless hurlers? That's the alternative and we don't want that. So, we're trying to develop something that suits our players.

    "But it's hard to get there, because we're coming from a long way down."

    The lack of recent underage success creates a psychological obstacle, though one – he suspects – to be occasionally over-stated. Many of the current Cork squad lost a Munster U-21 semi-final in extra-time to Tipp's All-Ireland winning team of 2010.

    If there is ground to make up in their minds, Barry-Murphy doesn't regard it as a job for a sports psychologist.

    "We don't have one in our set-up," he says candidly. "I think there are enough of us around the team who have won All-Irelands. Every one of us has won All-Ireland medals, we've all played at the highest level, we've all coached. I think we know enough to get inside the players' heads now.

    "That's just my opinion. Some people around me might think I'm very old-fashioned, but I just have my own way of doing things. I mean I read all the cliches, control the controllables and all that. Maybe I'm wrong. Time might tell that they need this type of thing but, as far as I'm concerned, I think I can do that."

    He doesn't anticipate a huge Cork following in Limerick tomorrow, even if Tipperary's recent eviction has levelled the playing-field in Munster. Indeed, Barry-Murphy says he was surprised that maroon so visibly dominated red on the Croke Park terraces last August.

    "It probably confirmed that people don't really see us as being serious contenders again," he says. "Because Cork fans, to be fair, are like everybody else. I'm not going to bluff around it here, they're great supporters when we're winning.

    "There'd be a huge buzz now if they thought we had a chance of winning the All-Ireland. But they're not entirely fools either. I mean maybe we simply won't be good enough to beat Clare. If that's the case, there's nothing you can do about it.

    "But we've got some very promising players and I really am excited by them. And I'd certainly be hopeful we'll give a very good account of ourselves"


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,995 ✭✭✭zetecescort


    Best of luck lads, give it your all, can't ask for more.

    Now, where's the frying pan :)


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,367 ✭✭✭Thinkstoomuch


    Best of luck lads, give it your all, can't ask for more.

    Now, where's the frying pan :)

    Ig agree.They neee to fight like dogs for each and every ball Its about time Pat Horgan and a few really put the shoulder to the wheel.He got
    4 points the last day but still hes workrate was just average at best.He has the talent but today he needs to actually grow a pair of b***s and lead from the front.


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