Cork hurling crisis no closer to a resolution

THE Cork County Board are no nearer resolving the problems they have with their senior hurling players and, with the coming season just four months away, there is no senior hurling coach either.

After the resignation of Bertie Óg Murphy, three of the five-man selection committee for the team, Pat

McDonnell, PJ Murphy and John Meyler, remain in place, as they are halfway through a two-year term.

Blackrock, as county champions, have yet to officially reaffirm county secretary Frank Murphy as their man on the selection committee, or appoint someone new in his place.

Cork hurling has never been embroiled in a crisis this serious, and it began after a radio interview given by goalkeeper Donal Óg Cusack criticised club structures.

Óg Cusack’s colleagues, including Mark Landers, Joe Deane, Kevin Murray, Fergal Ryan and Fergal McCormack, subsequently backed him.

Then, in a newspaper interview, Alan Cummins called for the entire selection committee to resign, and added that a new three-man committee should be appointed.

He added that if the present selection committee stayed on, he could see at least nine players not playing for Cork for the 2003 season.

In his radio interview, Cusack alleged that the board was being run by “yes” men, while Seán Óg Ó hAilpín was quoted as saying there were players who should have been on the team and were not.

It is hard to reconcile that criticism with a statement issued by the players on Tuesday night last in which they said difficulties with the manager and selectors were not the root cause of their dispute with the board.

If management is not the problem, then what is? Could it be that some of issues between the parties cannot be acceded to by the county executive because of GAA rules?

Speculation mounts over who will take over from Óg Murphy. He has categorically stated that he would not return to the job and has taken up a position with UCC hurlers for next season’s assault on the Fitzgibbon Cup.

The board is of the view there are sufficient knowledgeable hurling people within the county to take on a coaching job.

The names of Bernie O’Connor (Newtownshandrum), John Considine (Sarsfields), Gerald McCarthy (St Finbarrs), Donal O’Grady (do.), and Seanie O’Leary (Erins Own) have been mentioned as possible replacements for Óg Murphy.

The latter three have intimated they have no interest, and while it is difficult to see Considine agreeing to take on a position vacated by a fellow club man.

He has moved away from Glanmire to live in Kilbrittain and may have cut his ties with the club, but would be a good replacement, having steered the county to minor honours in 2001.

That leaves Bernie O’Connor, who has expressed an interest, but said he would want to name his own selectors if given the job. For that reason, he is unlikely to be offered the position. Cork have never gone down that particular road, but perhaps it time for change.

Hurling people in Tipperary, at last Sunday’s county final, expressed alarm at the events in Cork, a county with a rich tradition in the game.

Unless this impasse is settled quickly, there is a danger that Cork hurling could slip back to the days when the county went 12 years without a senior title.

There is undoubtedly a responsibility on players to get back to doing what they do best, concentrating solely on winning All-Irelands for Cork. Equally, there is an onus on the board to ensure that mistakes are not repeated and that every facility, permissible under rule, is made available to the players to allow them win All-Irelands for the county.