Where does Cork GAA go from here?
But they bear repeating. The first time since 1998 that neither senior team will have seen championship action in Croke Park. The first time since 2011 that both sides have been knocked out of the championship in July.
The shrill of James Owens’ final whistle was still carrying on the air when the Ed-Sheeran’s-played-Croke-Park-more-times-than-Cork-this-year jokes started.
That sort of ribbing will be batted away easily but it might not be until September when the heroes of 1990 are introduced to the crowd on All-Ireland final day that the magnitude of this annus horribilis really sinks in.
It is incumbent that a sobering sense of reality dawns on the powers-that-be in the county now.
So what should be done or, to ask a more pertinent question, what can be done, when Cork have been no friends to themselves?
For the second time in 11 months on live TV, Dónal Óg Cusack had a cut at the county board but on this occasion his message was lost among his determination to throw out as many sound-bites as possible in an attempt to score points. The principle of his argument had value but his delivery came across as populist. The dig at Frank Murphy was inappropriate too, ignoring the county secretary’s experience as a multiple All-Ireland winning selector. Cork needs people with the vision of Cusack and those winners from the 2000s but it’s clear he, those of similar mind and then those on the other side of the aisle are still engaged in civil war politics.
In light of what happened on Saturday, Cork-domiciled former Kerry star Tomás Ó Sé might receive some praise for his stinging analysis of Cork’s players and management. In truth, what Brian Cuthbert and his men faced after losing the Munster final replay to Kerry was an Everest. We tipped them to overcome Kildare but highlighted that the omens weren’t good. Based on previous week turnarounds for beaten provincial finalists, they had a 15% chance of winning. Kerry might have beaten Kildare but they would have struggled for patches. There was nothing rudderless about Cork on the field nor on the whitewash in the drawn game. Their problem was they couldn’t sustain that level of effort. That wasn’t necessarily down to a lack of leadership but the result of a group who put all their eggs in one basket.
Apart from the shared venue of Semple Stadium, the one common denominator in both senior teams’ defeat this weekend was a distinct lack of passion. Talk about lack of underage success all you want but neither Cork team wanted it enough at the weekend. That should haunt each and every player never mind the respective management teams. We were reminded of Tomás Mulcahy and Larry Tompkins’ recent recollections in this paper of the 1990 double All-Ireland year. Mulcahy spoke of the then Canon O’Brien’s plea for them against Galway to do it for Cork, for themselves, for him. Tompkins said nobody in Billy Morgan’s group sat at half-time in the footballers’ dressing room against Meath. Neither of the current crops seemed so motivated.
The man may be a living legend but the reverence he continues to be shown is far from healthy. Even Cusack and Ger Loughnane don’t seem to have the courage - or should that be wisdom - to criticise a manager who has been faltering. Claiming he is turning water into wine does nothing to help Cork. When almost everything he does is viewed through the prism of nostalgia it distorts the reality.
Laying the blame at the doorstep of the players after Sunday’s defeat wasn’t becoming of a man who has usually distinguished himself with class. In fairness to him, his discovery of players from hurling outposts like St Ita’s and Millstreet in the shape of Seamus Harnedy and Mark Ellis deserves plenty of credit.
Gentleman and hero he may be but if there is to be an open and frank discussion about Cork hurling then his position must be within the terms of reference.
The lack of a halo means Cuthbert has been fair game. For a decent guy who has acknowledged he has made mistakes, some of the jibes thrown at him have been pretty callous. Social media on Saturday evening was awash with the type of scurrilous commentary that no right-minded supporter would either put their name to or even post under a pseudonym. We stand by what we’ve written here before: the amount of genuine Cork football fans is closer in size to a company than a corps. They certainly don’t include those whose opposition to Cuthbert is fuelled by club allegiances. After a second season when his team’s spring has flattered to deceive come championship time, Cuthbert’s position should be reviewed but he deserves much more respect than he has received heretofore.
Two years ago when they were but a Domhnall O’Donovan wonder point away from an All-Ireland title, Barry-Murphy bristled when it was put to him that Cork didn’t score enough goals. They put that record right in the final games against Clare but still averaged a meek 1.16 goals per championship game. Sunday’s failure to find the net meant they finished the summer with an embarrassing return of 0.75 goals per game. Cork’s lack of ruthlessness on the scoreboard is reflected in their general play. Remember the last time a Cork player flattened an opponent with a shoulder, and by that we mean a fair one, unlike Bill Cooper’s slightly mistimed challenge on David Burke? No, neither do we. Instead, one of the abiding memories of Thurles was Johnny Glynn nailing Lorcan McLoughlin with a legitimate hit. When has a Cork player last struck fear into an opponent? Cork’s problem is that they want to play too much. It’s the same issue Anthony Cunningham identified in Galway before this year: “It’s not all about hurling in this world; it’s really who wants it the most and that has been proven time and time again.”
Few would condone Aidan O’Mahony’s foul on Donncha O’Connor in the opening stages of last Saturday week’s replay but it set the tone à la a certain Corkman against Holland in Lansdowne Road 14 years ago. Alan O’Connor, so sorely missed after his knee injury in Thurles, was heralded after the drawn game as a breath of fresh air when all he really did was impose himself not just on the game but Kerry too. What he did actually showed up the lack of meanness in the rest of his team-mates. Some of them, in fairness, took their lead from him but Cork’s reputation as one of, if not the, cleanest team in the country does them no favours. Kevin O’Driscoll’s rush of blood on Saturday did nothing to damage that name for this Cork team. Without O’Connor, several of them reverted to type against Kildare. The fact is there is no silverware for fair play.
Even before this past weekend, Cork’s 2015 inter-county season looked to be falling by the wayside. The under-age teams all exited the championship by small margins, mind, with the exception of the U21 hurlers who were completely outclassed by Waterford.
The minor hurlers were the great white hope. Shane Kingston’s absence was felt against Limerick but they shouldn’t have had to rely on one player to get them over the line. A comment by the Cork management after the initial win over Limerick is known to have galvanised Cork’s opponents when they met in the Munster semi-final. With nothing but the intermediate hurlers left in championship fare in late July, the silence is an uneasy one. Underage teams are getting closer but not close enough and once more the lack of contribution to those teams, particularly hurling, from traditional feeder city clubs, is apparent. Cork GAA’s need for urban renewal can’t begin and end with just bricks and mortar in Ballintemple.
: john.fogarty@examiner.ie
