The Cork team contains six players who featured in last August’s All-Ireland U20 final triumph.

The tag of raging hot favouritism meant that for Cork this journey into the West Clare night was first and foremost about avoiding any potential banana skins they might encounter along the way.

FIRST things first, Keith Ricken wants to make it abundantly clear that it is a privilege to be still involved with the Cork U20 footballers.

Also included in the 24-man panel are four members of last year's All-Ireland-winning Cork minor team.

Midway through his acceptance speech, CIT captain Kieran Murphy declared “we are back where we belong”.

Keith Ricken was at an U7 football blitz a while back, chatting to a pal on the sideline, when he heard one of the coaches roar out an order.

Cork Institute of Technology put in a gallant performance as they faced Dundalk IT in the Trench Cup semi-final in Portlaoise on Wednesday evening.

Former Dublin footballer Ger Brennan is fearful scheduling changes to the Sigerson Cup and All-Ireland U20 football championship could lead to young players dropping out of college.

UCC Gaelic games development officer John Grainger has described the GAA’s decision to shoehorn third level fixtures into tighter schedules as “short-sighted”.

Cork football masterminds Conor Counihan, Keith Ricken, and Maurice Moore will oversee a GAA coaching workshop in Mallow next month.

As he did for the Cork U20 footballers earlier this year, Keith Ricken, now on the sideline with the Carrigtwohill hurlers, is again working the oracle.

Upstairs in the Cork Institute of Technology student centre, a picture of the college’s 2009 Sigerson Cup winning team hangs on the wall outside Keith Ricken’s office.

“Momentum is a very important thing,” begins Cork minor football manager Bobbie O’Dwyer.

All-Ireland U20 football winners Cork have seven of the 20 players named as the top performers in this year’s championship.

EirGrid has revealed the top 20 players of this year’s U20 All-Ireland Football Championship.

Conor Browne had seven possessions in the All-Ireland semi-final, a figure roundly accepted as being below-average for a midfielder.

The 18-year-old Rush attacker averaged 2-7 per game as Dublin lost the All-Ireland final to Cork.

Former Cork footballer Colm O’Neill sees no reason why five or six of the county’s All-Ireland U20 winning team can’t make the step up to senior level in 2020.

“Relieved, but not surprised,” was Keith Ricken’s summation of his team’s astonishing first-half comeback.

Back in January when Cork GAA released their five-year plan for Cork football, one of the first stated targets was for Cork to be “regular All-Ireland contenders of inter-county football, within three to five years”.

Their 3-16 to 1-14 win over Dublin is the county’s first All-Ireland football title, junior excluded, since the Sam Maguire triumph of 2010.

The Cork U20s overturned an early nine-point deficit to secure the county’s first All-Ireland football title since 2010.

In the same way that he disagreed with the assertion of Cork football being on its knees, Ronan McCarthy doesn’t now believe that a couple of notable results have made everything “rosy in the garden”.

I had the privilege of assisting with the development of the Galway U20 footballers over the past few months. Our squad mantra was very simple: the players would endeavour to improve in every session. Our manager, Pádraic Joyce, picked no selectors. Instead, he opted for coaches.

Enjoyment, more so than silverware, is what Keith Ricken wants his U20 footballers to take from this year’s campaign.

Embarrassing. A crisis. Unacceptable. And those were the more moderate terms used in the media to describe the state of Cork football just last March following the county’s relegation to Division 3 of the Allianz league.

Cork will play Dublin in next weekend’s All-Ireland U20 football final after reeling in a seven-point second-half deficit to overcome 14-man Tyrone.

Unlike a fortnight ago when the Cork hurlers and footballers were forced to line out at Croke Park on separate days, common sense, thankfully, has prevailed this weekend. Two Cork teams playing back-to-back at the one venue on the same day. Scheduling can be rather simple when done right.

Cork manager Keith Ricken was thrilled with Cork’s performance as they won the Munster U20 final by beating Kerry 3-16 to 0-12.

Cork’s three-year wait for a championship win over Kerry — across senior, U20/21, minor, and junior level — is no more.

Cork’s three-year wait for a championship win over Kerry - across senior, U20/21, minor, and junior level - is no more.

The Cork footballers must be “streetwise” and “patient” during Saturday’s must-win Super 8 tie against Tyrone, a fixture which selector Sean Hayes has described as the “game of our lives”.

Cork U20 football manager Keith Ricken has been “blown away” by the attitude and positivity of his charges.

Cork and Kerry played out a thrilling John Kerins Cup U20 League draw in Clonakilty last night.

Cork and Kerry played out a thrilling John Kerins U20 Cup League draw in Clonakilty this evening.

Former Cork forward Colm O’Neill has been announced as a selector for the Cork U20 team.

Keith Ricken is set to be appointed as the new manager of the Cork Under 20 footballers.

Cork IT 2-13 Douglas 2-12

Cork IT 1-11 Newcestown 0-12: A Newcestown comeback fell short as Peter Kelleher and Anthony Casey led Cork IT to an opening county SFC victory at Páirc Uí Rinn yesterday.

Castlehaven 6-15 St Vincent’s 1-10

Cork IT 4-15 Carlow IT 1-10

Finuge players used the absences of Paul Galvin and Eamonn Fitzmaurice as extra motivation in yesterday’s Munster IHC final in Mallow, with manager John Colbert believing it ‘galvanised’ the squad.