Christy O'Connor: Cork must ensure disappointments herald new beginning

'I honestly think if Cork get back to the All-Ireland final that they will win it,' says Cork legend John Fenton

At this stage, the black box from Cork's All-Ireland final defeat to Tipperary hasn’t been fully recovered from the wreckage. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Shortly after the new Cork hurling management was appointed in the autumn of 1983, they called a meeting with the players. Twenty-eight showed up in the then Cork Regional Technical College. Justin McCarthy stood before them and reminded the entire group that the fate of Cork hurling over the following 12 months was in that room.

“Five or six players weren’t going to fall from the sky,” McCarthy wrote in his autobiography Hooked. “If Cork were to win anything, they would have to become better players. I also said I was asking players who had won All-Irelands and were household names to improve their training and discipline.