Are Leesiders' expectations realistic?

By Peter McNamara

The code of Gaelic football evolves more regularly than fashion trends in Milan these days but maybe we, as people of the Association, are being naive in thinking tradition will take a back-seat during this time-period of constant game-change and -tweaking.

Dublin’s James McCarthy in action against Kevin O'Driscoll of Cork last Sunday.

On a very basic level, take into account the All-Ireland SFC roll of honour.

At the head of the party are Kerry having claimed the title 37 times.

In second place are Dublin, clear second at that, having lifted Sam Maguire on 24 occasions.

Then, way back in the distance, are third-placed Galway who have nine All-Irelands at the grade to their name.

And, further back again, in joint-fourth position on the ladder, are Meath and Cork with seven each.

Forgive us for playing Devil’s advocate for a minute but those statistics will remind Leesiders that Cork, traditionally, have always lived in the shadows of Kerry and Dublin.

A familiar scene: Kerry footballers welcomed home with Sam Maguire after another All-Ireland win in September 2014.

Therefore, could it be argued that the Rebels have actually been over-achieving in the last decade reaching semi-finals and finals of competitions?

Yes, I can hear you shout: ‘What about kicking-on from our U21 teams that competed so well in recent years?’.

Well, let me remind you that at that particular age-grade Cork have only won the All-Ireland twice in the last decade for all of their provincial dominance and both of those title-successes were recorded in 2007 and ’09.

This is not an exercise in defending the

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However, tradition will always be the constant in the GAA and so maybe it is folly to expect the Leesiders to be able to compete with the traditional ‘Big Two’ in the code at all at senior level.

Take the odds-compilers’ views on the All-Ireland SFC outright market for this year as a reference point.

Dublin presently occupy the head of the market at odds no greater than 6-4.

Kerry, the defending champions, sit comfortably in second position at a top-price of 100-30.

Here’s the rub.

The side with the next best chance of winning the All-Ireland, according to these lists, is Mayo but at 8-1.

That difference in punting terms is absolutely enormous.

And then there’s Cork, pitched in at an industry-high of 12-1.

Are we seeing any trends here with all of these facts?

Add in our abysmal records in the Munster and All-Ireland Club championships throughout the last decade at the highest level and people may begin to appreciate that it is far from being all sunshine and rainbows as regards the big-ball code by the banks of the Lee.

Diarmuid Connolly scores a penalty for Dublin past Cork goalkeeper Ken O'Halloran on Sunday.

In saying that, Cork were expected to at least be competitive on Sunday.

And it was odd to see the term ‘collapse’ used in the aftermath to describe their performance.

For a ‘collapse’ to occur they would have needed to have gotten going in the first place.

The Leesiders never did. They weren’t allowed to, either.

However, an opinion of Dave Barry’s yesterday struck a chord.

He said: “If you look at Cork at the moment there aren’t a lot of household names. When people mention Cork they expect them to be at the top of the tree but now they have to dig in, take the defeat on the chin and move on.”

Of course, there are a number of players on Brian Cuthbert’s panel that are household names if talking in a literal sense.

Yet, you understood entirely what Barry meant.

If we were to compare and contrast Cork’s general starting 15 with Kerry’s and Dublin’s it would probably be argued the Rebels do not possess the same level of quality as those two in certain areas.

With all of that in mind, it is important to remember Cork remain a work in progress.