Cork GAA will be the real loser if both sides just keep on digging

The worrying thing for Cork fans is that the damage done by the dispute at this stage may have gone so deep that it will take years to repair

IT HAS to be admitted: there’s one hell of a stubborn streak in many Corkmen, particularly those involved at the highest levels of sport. There’s no taking their shovels from some of them when they decide to dig in.

Whether or not it is in their own best interests or that of the teams with which they are involved is a subject for some debate.

That’s especially the case when you observe the unfolding mess in Cork GAA at present or consider Irish rugby coach Eddie O’Sullivan’s approach to this year’s Six Nations competition, or recall the events for which Roy Keane, despite all his other massive achievements, will always be remembered.

There’s no point in going back over the old ground of Keane’s departure from the 2002 World Cup or his refusal to return to the Irish squad until after Mick McCarthy had left as manager (even though Keane was more sinned against than sinning). But the issues relating to the Irish rugby team and the Cork county board remain very current (even if, hopefully, some form of resolution to the latter may have been found by the time you read this).

We’ll find out about the Irish rugby team soon enough, too. O’Sullivan’s stubbornness in the face of criticism has been extraordinary. He has admitted to few mistakes in the World Cup preparations. He has even denied there was any public unhappiness with his coaching of the team.

Despite the poor performances in the World Cup he has picked every one of those players still available to him for tomorrow’s game with Italy and has ignored the claims of younger alternatives showing better form than many of those chosen.

Almost alone in world rugby, O’Sullivan does not see the merits of using replacements from the bench tactically throughout a game. He insisted this week he would not alter his policy. It is extraordinary stubbornness, even if it eventually brings him the rewards he seeks.

As a Corkman I hate to tell another Corkman that he could learn from a Kilkenny native, but a listener to The Last Word put it well during week when he said O’Sullivan might be well advised to study Brian Cody’s management methods.

The Kilkenny hurling manager has been exceptionally successful by being utterly ruthless in his selections for the Kilkenny team for each game.

Kilkenny’s biggest challenge in the All-Ireland hurling championship this year is unlikely to come from Cork, however. The damage that is being done by the row between the players of both of Cork’s senior inter-county teams and the county board has the potential to be immense.

It all makes for great drama. ! While Cork sport is convulsed by what’s going on, the rest of the country is either amused, baffled or contemptuous. It probably wouldn’t happen anywhere else.

What the rest of the country thinks of Cork doesn’t matter of course. The performances of the Cork senior teams for the next few seasons is what’s relevant and any settlement of the dispute should be drawn up only with that in mind.

The outside perception of Cork doesn’t even feature as a priority. This is an internal matter of no real consequence to anyone other than those involved and those who support Cork hurling and football.

The worrying thing for Cork fans is that the damage done by the dispute at this stage may have gone so deep that it will take years to repair. Earlier this week Cork County Board PRO Bob Ryan told me confidently during a radio interview that a solution would be reached.

He’s right in that almost every dispute eventually gets concluded in some fashion. It is certain that Cork teams will return to the field at some stage. But how this comes about remains crucial if the teams are to achieve the levels of which they are capable.

The potential damage to the morale and interest of the footballers and hurlers is enormous should they be forced to compromise too much. The county board may feel it is in the right and that it must assert its authority and control over the players, but to do this may be a classic case of cutting off the nose to spite the face.

The county board benefited by giving ground in 2002 when faced with a strike by the Cork hurlers, and while its officers may feel they do not want to lose face again, the bigger picture demands that they do so.

While the hurlers emerged enhanced by the stand they rightly took in 2002 for better conditions, this latest dispute has taken a different complexion. It is not that the players were wrong in what they sought — that whoever was appointed manager of a senior inter-county team would be allowed to pick his own selectors — but the tactics employed have backfired and the public support is not what it should be.

And their case wasn’t helped when Seán Óg Ó hAilpín broadened the argument with the County Board by dragging the name of Frank Murphy, its all-powerful full-time secretary, into the row and suggesting he should step down. Ó hAilpín may be one of the greatest hurlers to have worn the Cork shirt — and his dedication to promoting the GAA has been selfless — but he has a bit to learn about political manoeuvring. Opening up another front in the war when battles remain to be won is not a good strategy. The tactic would have worked only if Ó hAilpín knew he had widespread support for the move from beyond the ranks of the inter-county players. While griping about Murphy has been widespread in Cork GAA circles for more than 30 years, Ó hAilpín should have realised that such a call could only be made if many were prepared to back him because the county board was divided in its attitude towards dealing with the players.

But there was no sign of that and, worse, the players’ cause is nowhere as popular as the last strike six years ago was. Paradoxically, Ó hAilpín’s error may have served only to strengthen the resolve of the board and may have contributed to the support it has received since from GAA president Nicky Brennan.

BUT it is not hard to understand the frustration of the players. They not only had alerted the county board to their objection to the idea that a manager should have his selectors imposed on him, but had asked that it not proceed with the selection of a new manager to replace Billy Morgan with the senior football panel. The county board repeatedly emphasises that the new man, Teddy Holland, was allowed to pick his own selectors under the old system. But that is not the point.

Holland was not wise to have taken the job when offered to him, no matter how much he wanted it, because it was going to put him into immediate conflict with players. If he remains it will be impossible for him to build a worthwhile relationship with players who have called on him to step down.

The county board appears unwilling to force him to do so in case it could provoke a legal action. Holland must know this, so why does he not step down to defuse the whole thing? The suspicion must be that the county board is quietly persuading him to stand firm because it wants to break the players. The consequences of that would be disastrous.

The Last Word with Matt Cooper is broadcast on 100-102 Today FM, Monday to Friday, 4.30pm to 7pm.