Rebels eye the danger ahead

For Cork and Kerry, Munster SFC games against any of the other counties are often no-win situations.

Win easily, and the consensus will be that the opposition were at nothing, while a narrow victory will raise questions about the bigger side’s ability. Having had more than one close encounter with Limerick in recent times, however, Cork won’t have minded having an easier progression past the Shannonsiders’ challenge three weeks ago.

A flurry of three first-half goals meant the outcome was more or less decided, and ruthlessness like that is something Patrick Kelly wants to see more of.

“Everyone uses the idea of the Kilkenny hurlers,” he said, “they always seem to go for the jugular and bury teams with a few goals. Thankfully the last day we did that, when you get three goals in the first half the game was dead and buried, maybe we could have gone for it a bit more in the second half, lads tapped the ball over the bar, but you have to be happy.

“It’s something we’re always looking to improve on, when the chance is on to go for it, and the last day that was impressive.

“We were expecting a tough game, in 2008, ’09 and ’10. They tested us and they still have most of their main men there. When we played them before, we started poorly and they could build on that, but thankfully we were able to build up a lead and kill it off before half-time.”

The win against Limerick three weeks ago was Kelly’s first in Cork colours since last August’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Donegal, having spent the winter and spring recovering from a hip operation. Thankfully, there were no negative reactions to his exertions, even if he accepts he still needs to get to the optimum level.

“It felt alright,” he said.

“After every session I’d be stiff and sore for a day or two, but it was fine. Trying to get up to the pace of things is tough going, you can feel that you’re not where you want to be. I got 50, 55 minutes so that was good, I didn’t feel that I’d be in that position to start, so I was happy to get the game-time.”

Recuperation is a solitary existence. Kelly admits there were times when things got him down, but now he is able to use the darker days as inspiration to make the most of the summer.

“When you’re watching the league games, you’re frustrated,” he said, “and then you’re doing the rehab and it’s boring and mind-numbing, wondering if you’re going to get back to where you were.

“When you do get back, you try to remember the rehab and enjoy being back. It can be frustrating when you feel you’re not fully fit and that you’re not operating at your best, but that’ll come with the training and the games.

“Colm O’Neill’s injury puts it into perspective. When I saw him go off with his season over, I was thinking how lucky I was that I’d be back for the summer. There are ups and downs like everything, but when you get close to the finish line, you can drive on then.”

Once the mobility increased, Kelly used running, cycling, swimming and even pilates to aid his return. He still has to remain careful, though.

“There are some days after a session you’d be in bits,” he said. “Even two weeks ago I’d have had to step back a bit, I missed out on some running — the rest of the lads think I’m bluffing! — but you have to be like that.

“The backroom lads here are great, they know what needs to be done.”

That attitude also extends to the playing side, and dealing with Clare.

“We’re lucky enough that Conor [Counihan] is very grounded, he’d never let fellas get too far ahead of themselves,” Kelly said.

“We’ll have our homework done on Clare and know they’re going to come with something different to last year, they tried to go toe-to-toe and were maybe caught a bit open, so we’ll probably be up against a blanket defence. It’ll be about starting well, as we did against Limerick.”