Further proof how far Cork hurling has slipped
Even in the barren Barry’s Tea years they still had a Brian Corcoran, a player to remind supporters and opponents that they still featured one of the giants of the game, that they were still Cork.
In 2013 they won’t have anyone of that stature taking to the field, something the county has probably only experienced in the first couple of years post-Ring.
Seán Óg has retired. John Gardiner has been retired. Donal Óg hasn’t quite but has been told he’s essentially only back-up for Anthony Nash.
That is why the Eoin Cadogan’s announcement over the weekend is all the more worrying for Cork hurling. While he hadn’t exactly the craft or status or All-Ireland medal count of those former colleagues, he brought a determination and presence that screamed championship. Without the sight of that helmet charging onto that field Cork appear to have an alarming lack of aggression and charisma. In time Conor Lehane will provide that but for now the only aura about Cork is to be found on the sideline in the form of their manager.
On the surface Jimmy Barry-Murphy brought a stability to Cork hurling in 2012 and had a decent season along with it, but that Cadogan opted to play football is a sign that all was not as well as it appeared.
Nearly everyone who is adept at both hurling and football has a preference for hurling. Football may be one of the best field games known to man but hurling is a game from the gods and for years was the sport Cadogan had the greater grá for. Yet when it came to finally choosing one over the other, his second love won.
Why? You can argue he’s a better footballer, that the footballers have a better chance of winning an All-Ireland. What ultimately swayed it though is that the footballers have a superior set-up and ethos and the greater ambition.
The line that the Cork hurlers are “going to win nothing anyway for the next few years” seems to have become so pervasive on Leeside you wonder has it infiltrated the camp itself; that they didn’t look to retain more of the old guard because Cork were hardly going to beat Kilkenny any time soon.
But Cork could win something over the coming years. Munster in particular looked very winnable when the draw was made last October. For the first time since the county last won the provincial title in 2006, there is no heavyweight blocking Cork’s passage to the final. There’s no Flynn, Shanahan and McGrath playing for Waterford like there was back in 2007, or no Tipp, who they’ve had to face in their opening championship game every year since 2008.
Beat Clare or Waterford next June and they’re in a Munster final, probably against Tipp, in Thurles, which would generate close to a full house. A Munster medal might be a reduced currency these days but Cork are hardly in a position now either to turn their noses up on one. Instead it should turn them on, the idea of playing — and beating — Tipp in a packed Semple Stadium. That would galvanise a Cork hurling scene that is currently plagued by a general inertia.
You wonder though was that vision of Semple sold to Cadogan. With the footballers, the vision is clear.
There was something bold and admirable and refreshing about JBM’s approach to 2012. In explaining the left-of-centre appointment of the former international athlete Dave Matthews as team physical trainer, Jimmy animatedly outlined that he wanted a team that played more in the image of his beloved greyhounds than elephants.
The league final though showed that elephants still rule the jungle and to survive Cork needed to bulk up. The All-Ireland semi-final underlined it all the more in the eyes of senior players but over the winter they didn’t feel that was adequately addressed. With the footballers and a strength and conditioning coach like Aidan O’Connell, Cadogan would have had no such concerns.
He’ll have noticed that the footballers demand more of themselves too. There is a real culture of ‘extras’ in that set-up — to stay on after training, to practise and train outside of collective sessions. With the hurlers it is nowhere near as prevalent. Too many players are doing just enough, which isn’t enough to win.
Ten years ago it was the opposite. That sea change is a credit to the revolution initiated by Billy Morgan and carried on by Conor Counihan. His team are getting nowhere near the credit they deserve. They are now a better team than they were in 2010. They were outstanding in 2012 only for the whole season to be rubbished by one subdued half of football. It’s as if everything about them is defined by whether they win a second All-Ireland or not.
They’ve already won a lot else though, including the tussle to be Cadogan’s sole priority. That is a real measure of their success — and how far Cork hurling has slipped.
