Counihan girds Cork for toughest test

IT’S Conor Counihan’s conundrum.

How to simulate in training the frenetic level of intensity his Cork players will be confronted with by Tyrone in Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC semi final at Croke Park.

True to form, the Aghada man examines the issue like he does most others – carefully.

“Of course, we have to match their intensity, but nobody should forget the skill factor here either. You still have to put scores on the board.”

Privately, his players will confirm Counihan has more or less swallowed the whistle in training, happy to let the tempers bubble up as the back-to-back Munster champions prepare for the ultimate test of will and resolve.

“You can’t afford to be afraid of anyone,” Counihan cautions. “If you go out with that attitude, you’re in trouble straight away. We’ve always ingrained that philosophy in the lads – not to worry too much about the opposition.

“We’ve gone into each match taking the game to the other team and that’ll be our philosophy again on Sunday.”

While Cork were denied a Croke Park grilling in the quarter-final, they do have an afternoon’s toil against Limerick in their locker from the Munster final. That should help.

“We haven’t prepared any differently because it’s Tyrone. We’re in the same mode all along. We’d always pick on form at training and not on the basis of the opposition. What the management sees on the training pitch is very important to us. The lads know that too. The game is about the team and I’m very excited for them.”

He added: “We study the opposition to a certain extent but your big focus has to be on your own team. The tougher games make you better – that’s why the Donegal game was very disappointing, because we got nothing out of it. We like to step back and assess after games but it’s difficult to go to someone and ask him to look at things if he’s scored 1-3 or 1-4.”

In fact, Tyrone’s quarter-final grind against Kildare was precisely what Counihan and his selectors would have relished. The Cork coach has studied the tape but it didn’t tell him anything he didn’t appreciate about Mickey Harte’s battlers.

“Total commitment, 15-man effort on the field, never-say-die attitude,” he responds when asked what makes the Red Hands the champions they are.

“Tyrone seem to be the standard bearers in terms of intensity, but we’ve played a lot of other good teams in the 18 months I’ve been involved. It’ll be different but we have to handle that situation. I’m under no illusions that this will be the toughest game we’ve played so far.”

With James Masters struggling, the Cork selectors may be spared one decision in the full-forward line, leaving them the choice of Kieran O’Connor or a returning Anthony Lynch in the full-back line. If Alan O’Connor’s back ailment persists, Fintan Goold looks well placed to come in. Either way, the man who brought no nonsense defending to an art form in his own day knows there’s no place for equivocation on Sunday against a side who win first and ask questions later.

A dirty side, even? “We wouldn’t have first-hand experience of them and until you meet a side on the field of play, you never truly know what they’re like. To me they are a very formidable side and it will take a lot of effort over 70 minutes and more.”

The thought persists that Douglas’s Eoin Cadogan might relish the physical confrontations on Sunday, but Counihan felt that “time was short” for him to get a much-needed run in the quarter final stroll against Donegal.

“He needed a bit more time (after coming into the panel), but everyone is being considered for this game. That’s the good thing: we have a full panel, and with that comes options.”