The hits keep coming for under-fire boss McCarthy

Where the criticism centred on the Cork footballers and their perceived softness ahead of Meath’s visit, the spotlight shifted onto Ronan McCarthy and his backroom team this week, with the Cork management labelled not fit for purpose at Tuesday’s county board meeting.

It was a meeting dominated by the ongoing controversy surrounding the Páirc Uí Chaoimh overspend and Michael O’Flynn’s presentation as to how he and fellow stadium board member Tom Gray arrived at the estimated final cost of €95.8m. Once O’Flynn had departed, normal business resumed, with county board CEO Kevin O’Donovan proceeding to read out the various match reports sent in by Cork managers.

That Ronan McCarthy kept his report of their 2-12 to 1-9 defeat to Meath to one line - “disappointing result and poor performance overall” - drew the ire of certain delegates. Of all the reports relayed to club delegates, McCarthy’s was, by some distance, the shortest.

“Sending in a one-liner just isn’t good enough. It is an insult to the delegates here to listen to that,” said Dripsey’s John Feeney.

Next up to the microphone was Kildorrery’s Tony McCarthy, who didn’t spare the Cork management over a run of four league games which have produced one draw and three defeats.

“This board has to have a serious discussion about where we are going with the football. What I watched last Saturday [against Meath] was absolutely disgraceful,” began McCarthy.

I wouldn’t blame the lads that went out there and represented their county, I’d blame the leadership from the line. It was absolutely zero, the same as the report came in here. Nothing to offer, nothing to offer on the pitch, nothing to offer on the report we got in here tonight.

“We are in serious trouble with football in this county. We are all members of the county board and I think tonight we should make a stand and say, that management that we have is not good enough to run the football in this county.”

McCarthy excoriated the defensive tactics which yielded two points in the opening 24 minutes against Meath and just one point in the 28 minutes after half-time. The Kildorrery official lamented how Cork football has become a ‘laughing stock’.

“We had a corner-forward, who has given great service to this county, playing in defence and receiving kick-outs. There was no style to our defending.

“We’ll be down in Division 3. We are a laughing stock in football now. We shouldn’t be. There are plenty of footballers in this county. All they want is a bit of leadership. If you bring 30 or 40 players together, you must put a plan in place for them to work off, but there was nothing there on Saturday.

“We should have a serious discussion on where this management is going and [is it] fit for purpose. I don’t think it is.”

Cork chairperson Tracey Kennedy agreed there is a need for discussion, but was also extremely mindful of the closeness of this evening’s Tipperary fixture and the weight attached to this game such is Cork’s positioning at the foot of the table and their immediate need to start racking up league points so as to avoid the drop.

“We have to respect that our management and players are putting everything they can into this situation. They have an important game coming up and I couldn’t possibly undermine them by discussing their tactics and plans here at a board meeting,” she said.

“We have put a manager in place and we have to back him at this point. We’ll have that discussion at another date, but not right now. I do understand people’s frustration, I share it. We have a plan for Cork football. That plan is being put in place. So it is not like we are doing nothing.”

Looking in from the outside, Tipperary’s two-time All Star Declan Browne sees a Cork team that is not clicking, not gelling. The Premier footballers have spent many a spring down in the league’s third tier so was Liam Kearns’ depleted squad unable to haul themselves out of the Division 2 relegation space over the closing rounds, it would not, according to Browne, “be the end of the world”. But as for Cork winding up in Division 3, added the former Tipp forward, that would be a sizeable “no-no”. Cork playing Division 3 football is simply “unheard of”. It is, indeed, as the county has never fallen that far since the GAA nationalised the league and created tiered divisions over 30 years ago.

Cork went through many a transition before and you’d never feel too sorry for them because they’d always pick themselves up. But it is a hard gig for Ronan McCarthy at the moment. For his job, is it tenable if they get relegated? They are not our worries, but they are the questions that will be asked,” said Browne, ahead of Cork and Tipperary’s meeting in Thurles.

“Nobody goes out to do this on purpose. It is just something that is not right, it’s not happening for Cork. I’ve been there a lot of times. When the tide is going against you and no matter how hard you try, sometimes you just don’t get anywhere. Things are going wrong everywhere down [in Cork], with the pitch issues and all of that.”

The decision of the Central Hearings Committee on Thursday to rescind the red card shown to Brian Fox during last week’s defeat to Armagh is a significant boost to Tipperary. And even allowing for the continued absence of Bill Maher, Robbie Kiely, Michael Quinlivan and Paudie Feehan, Browne is confident of a home win at Thurles.

“Tipperary should have enough, even without the lads. Cork are fighting for their lives. It is a tough place to be where Cork are but if they don’t come out fighting out of this one, they are in serious, serious trouble.

“If Tipperary can get to five points on the table with two rounds remaining, promotion then becomes a possibility.” Cork’s bar is set nowhere near as high.