Tompkins: Rebels can turn corner in the west

SEVEN years in the job now and despite a string of bad recent results, Larry Tompkins still remains convinced the Cork senior football squad is good enough to win the Sam Maguire Cup.

“What’s the point in being involved if you don’t have the belief and conviction that your team is capable of winning the All-Ireland title,” he says.

Cork travel to Dr Hyde Park this afternoon to face Roscommon in the All-Ireland Qualifiers and while Tompkins won’t discuss his future should they lose, but he knows he may have no say in the matter anyway, as his term in charge will end if Cork are beaten.

“It’s our last chance to stay in this year’s championship. We could have drawn a longer straw, but we just have to get on with it now,” he says phlegmatically.

“The one thing I hope for is that we play to our potential. I’ve always said that Cork has as good a crop of players as any of the other counties. It’s just a question of performing to our capabilities and we would be winning titles every other year.

“Playing Roscommon on their home ground is not going to be easy for us. People will point to the league game between the teams and argue that we should have won that game, but there is a vast difference between league and the championship.

“The one plus in our favour is that we have already played them in Hyde Park this year where we let a seven point lead slip. I would be confident we could turn that result around.”

Consistency, or lack of it, is a buzz word for the Cork senior footballers. Following a number of highly impressive league wins, they flopped completely against Limerick in the Munster championship, something that continues to puzzle the coach.

“I still cannot put my finger on what went wrong in that match,” says Tompkins. “It wasn’t a question of being over-confident or under-estimating the opposition, but we simply never got off the ground.

Tompkins refuses to make excuses for a recent defeat at the hands of Wexford in a challenge game, pointing to the fact that 13 of his side were involved in club championshp games in the days before.

“I never read too much into challenge games. You learn a little from every game and the selectors have learned quite a bit from the two we’ve played against Clare and Wexford.

“If you can remember back to 1990 we played a Cork “B” selection in a challenge game and they beat us by nine points, but we went on to win the All-Ireland.”

There is only so much a coach can do and Tompkins, who has dedicated the last seven years of his life to chasing his dream of leading Cork to the ultimate prize, must feel it’s time for his players to finally deliver.

The current scoring form of Colin Corkery, Brendan Ger O’Sullivan and Miceál Ó Croinín could just be what the doctor ordered, but there are others who must also deliver.

Defeat by Roscommon would end the season and possibly the careers of a few players.

On the other hand victory could see the season run and run and that coveted title which Tompkins has his heart so firmly set on, could become a reality.

“Our lads have a great opportunity to put that Limerick performance behind them.

“On our day we are as good as any team out there. Now is the time to prove it”.