Cork can handle expectation
It may well be dawning on the Cork public that the team that has already had to peak twice in the last month must now learn to live with the growing expectation from within their own county.
It’s a burden that counties such as Tyrone, Kerry and Dublin carry every weekend as a matter of form and fact. While it is almost inconceivable that such expectation would suffocate or stifle their game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh tomorrow, they will recognise nonetheless the need to be extra vigilant and not allow their level of performance dip below the awesome levels of stamina, pace and endurance witnessed against Kerry three weeks ago.
Some of the current Cork team have been around long enough to remember the last time they cleared the Kerry hurdle at a semi-final stage only to nearly trip up against Tipperary in Thurles in the 2002 decider. They are unlikely to falter this time.
A good percentage of the current Limerick squad have been waiting since the days when only Darragh Ó Sé’s fingertips denied them a Munster Championship medal in 2004 and even if that turns out to be the high water mark in a relatively fruitful period in their football history, I think they are better off playing Cork as opposed to Kerry for their next tilt at the windmills tomorrow.
Psychologically, the Limerick squad must sense that they’re not that far off this present bunch of Cork footballers having played all of the football apart from the last three minutes in their most recent championship meeting a year ago.
Twelve of the Limerick players lining out in tomorrow’s final played in the Gaelic Grounds last year and I doubt that the addition of Stephen Lucey, Mark O Riordan and Cormac Joyce-Power will weaken their hand.
The difficulty from a Limerick viewpoint, however, is the glorious evolution of a Cork team that was devilishly fortunate to escape from their clutches last year. One of the few criticisms levelled against Conor Counihan in his debut season as Cork manager was that he always seemed one game away from selecting his best 15. The Limerick game was his first in charge and even if he had a fair idea of his best on-field formation by August, he still had to wait until recent weeks to implement his game-plan.
Seven of the starting 15 from last year’s game are replaced by choice with players of a higher quality and only Alan Quirke, Daniel Goulding and the midfield pairing of Alan O’Connor and Nicholas Murphy retain their starting position.
It is a healthy transformation by any standards even if John Galvin lorded it over the Cork midfield last year and with decent support from Jim O’Donovan, could quite possibly do likewise tomorrow.
Indeed the midfield area should produce some of the best action from this year’s final. John Galvin has long been trumpeted by Mickey Ned O’Sullivan as the country’s best midfielder and tomorrow’s game presents him with an ideal opportunity to showcase his talents on the stage many feel he deserves. Much like his former midfield partner before him, John Quane, Galvin has soldiered in the trenches for Limerick when it was easier to raise the white flag and chances are a Munster medal would mean more to him.
Galvin and O’Donovan are the only pairing to get the upper hand at midfield against Cork in the last year and should they reproduce that form tomorrow, inside forwards Ian Ryan, Stephen Kelly and Ger Collins might get to test Ray Carey, Michael Shields and Anthony Lynch better than Kerry’s inside line did. If Kelly vacates his full forward position early in the game, the extra space will suit Ryan and Collins. Stephen Lucey is likely to struggle for pace on Pearse O’Neill but if Lucey can avoid fouling, he will more than match Cork’s battering ram for physicality and will certainly limit O’Neill’s influence on kickouts. Elsewhere the match-ups in the Limerick back-line don’t weigh that heavily against the underdog. Johnny McCarthy is as tight a marker as there is in the game, Mark O’Riordan has pace to burn and Stephen Lavin is a proven performer who relishes whatever big occasions the Limerick jersey has thrown his way in the last seven seasons.
Despite all the obvious strengths in the Cork game, Limerick will have to take encouragement from the period when Kerry made their push early in the second half three weeks ago.
When Donncha O’Connor rattled home the penalty to turn the tide in Cork’s favour again, Kerry made three substitutions in the next ten minutes with limited effect. If Limerick can stay in the game for the same length of time (50 minutes), they have enough talent on the bench for the first time in a long time to maintain the momentum longer than Kerry did.
Jason Stokes can add strength and experience to the mix, Eoin Hogan brings speed, Kieran O’Callaghan scoring potential and Conor Mullane could give pace and penetration from the half back line.
Without much warning last year, Limerick threatened to become the story of the 2008 championship. They are already in the last 12 of this year’s championship without having to produce any heroics at home in the Gaelic Grounds.
That in itself should be enough to keep a Division Four team happy but the coveted first Munster championship in 113 years remains an elusive goal.
If Cork handle the growing expectation the way we expect them to, the wait for Limerick football will continue.
