O’Leary: We need more effort from Cork hurlers

WHATEVER happened to the baby-faced all-conquering Cork team of 1999, the one that swept all before them as they powered their way to a most unlikely All-Ireland title, the one that was supposed to dominate hurling for several years?

They did manage to retain their Munster title the following year, then fell to a fired-up Offaly in the All-Ireland semi-final. Since then they have stumbled from pillar to post, a shadow of that driven side, a mystery not just to their own fans but to hurling people in general. What has changed? Where did it go wrong?

Seanie O’Leary, a selector on that 99 side, and now a selector again, is as puzzled as anyone else. “I don’t know what’s happened”, he said, after yet another less-than-convincing performance on Sunday against Galway, when qualification for the league final was still a real possibility.

“We’re looking for a couple of guys to bring some inspiration to the team, and they were few and far between on Sunday. Pat Mulcahy was probably one of the best guys we had, he gave a great display at full-back, in his willingness to throw himself around, get hurt. I felt a couple of guys in the second-half were just minding themselves, weren’t as committed as you need to be at this level.”

The greater problems would appear to be from midfield up, but even the defence doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Of the 99 side only three remain, keeper Donal Óg Cusack, right-corner-back Wayne Sherlock and wing-back Sean Óg Ó hAilpin, and those three currently look solid bets for championship places.

Ronan Curran also looks to have done enough at centre-back to nail down a place, but erstwhile full-back Diarmuid O’Sullivan has missed most of the season to date, a combination of lack of fitness and injury, while the left flank of defence is still open. Mark Prendergast was burned again on Sunday, five points by Galway’s Alan Kerins, but Tom Kenny did play well at left-half, having disappointed in midfield previously.

Midfield, however, has become a minefield with a number of trialists being blown out of it, while a succession of half-forwards have failed to make any impression on defences.

“There’s a great shortfall of good strong-minded players from midfield up”, O’Leary continued. “Defensively we’re not too bad, but in nearly every game we’ve played we’ve been in the position to really kill off teams but didn’t do it. Galway was a perfect example of that. We were 10, 11 points ahead early in the second half, should have gone on to win well, but you had fellas over-elaborating, doing stupid things, and suddenly there was only three points in it again.”

In his own playing days, the former Cork corner-forward was noted for the killer instinct, applying the final blow, and his exasperation at the lack of same in this side was obvious. Exasperating also has been the lack of continuity in personnel, injuries and club games dictating much of what’s happened, Sunday’s game a case in point.

“We’re trying to cope with the club situation as well as we can but we had only 21 players available for selection against Galway. Of the 15, Timmy McCarthy was injured last Sunday, couldn’t play with his club on Sunday night, couldn’t train during the week; Diarmuid O’Sullivan had an x-ray on a leg injury on Thursday night and the result of that is that he won’t be able to play for another 10 days at least. Kieran Murphy hurt his hand during the week playing with Sars and Paul Tierney hurt himself in the warm-up.

“It’s very tricky now with all the games; some fellas were actually playing their fourth game in seven days and that’s not on. It’s very difficult, between fellas being injured, sick, playing the evening before, that evening. It was the same against Kilkenny and it’s getting to the stage where you won’t be able to announce your team until just before throw-in, waiting on last-minute checks, how they are in the morning, at 12, at one o’clock.”

Still, it’s not all doom and gloom, never would be when O’Leary is involved. “We’ve won some good games, Wexford Park, Thurles, again on Sunday in Galway, so I wouldn’t be that down. But the way we collapse in games we should be winning well is disappointing. We have five or six weeks now to the championship, the challenge is to get the time to prepare the team properly. With football, hurling, fellas coming to training with injuries, unable to take part, it’s frustrating. We’ll take it as it comes.”