Rebels put faith in young guns to restore former glories

THERE is a joke doing the rounds in Cork about having a few bob on both Liam MacCarthy and Sam Maguire residing on Leeside in late September.

The advice is not to bet on it - as the hurlers wouldn’t live up to their part of the bargain.

It may be trademark Cork wit but it cannot hide how desperately the footballing community want to be back in the big time. Last year’s tame exit at the hands of Fermanagh still rankles - or more specifically the huge media backlash which followed.

Tomorrow, Billy Morgan’s side face Clare at Cusack Park, Ennis, in their first foray of the Munster SFC, battling to erase the memories of Charlie Mulgrew and advance to a decider against either Limerick or Kerry.

And they are confident: “There is a great buzz about training,” selector John Corcoran admits. “Maybe it is due to the young fellows or maybe it’s because of the League run.”

Cork enjoyed a creditable NFL campaign - all the more amazing as many of the big guns like Graham Canty missed the spring through injury. They enjoyed wins over Kerry and Dublin, draws with Westmeath and Offaly along with narrow defeats to Mayo and Tyrone. The final day 3-11 to 1-7 hammering away to Donegal was the only serious blot on their copy book.

The victory against Dublin was the most pleasing for fans and management. “There was a real intensity which we tried to instill in our players evident that day,” Corcoran recalls, “and it showed. We kicked 18 points that day which is super scoring against a team like Dublin.”

James Masters, a former minor, star accounted for eight of those scores: “That was an incredible performance. James is a natural left leg and I think any football team needs to have a player like that.”

Masters is one of three newcomers tomorrow and Corcoran has no fears for the new boys.

“Fintan Goold is a tremendous athlete, powerfully built and fully deserves his chance tomorrow after really impressing in a few challenges against the likes of Westmeath, Mayo and Galway while John Hayes has been on the last two Cork U-21 teams and the Carbery team that won the county. While they are young, the management are very confident about their abilities.”

Don’t be fooled into thinking this is a team of youngsters. The talents of Graham Canty, Anthony Lynch, Eoin Sexton, Kevin Dwyer, Derek Kavanagh and Micheál Ó Cronin would be relished in any county.

“Those lads will be the real driving force,” Corcoran continues, “especially the lads playing in the central position - they will be vital.”

Clare were unimpressive in their laboured win over Waterford in the first round of the championship. But Cork will treat them with respect. Twelve months ago John Kennedy’s side made life difficult in the All-Ireland Qualifiers. And there’s the fact that Clare have had that outing, however uninspiring.

“People may say that Clare struggled against Waterford but they still scored 2-14 in a championship game. Having a game like that under their belt is a huge benefit. Just look at Tipperary in the hurling championship and how much they came on in the two games against Limerick before they beat Clare,” said Corcoran,

The Cork management team carried out a recon mission across the Shannon for that Waterford game. So what names filled their notebooks?

“Rory Donnelly was very impressive, he hit 1-7, while centre forward Enda Coughlan also looked the part. David Russell and Odhran O’Dwyer are also two very experienced guys. A lot of the team like Odhran were part of the Kilmurray/Ibreakane side that won the Munster club championship and were beaten by Ballina, who went on to win the All-Ireland.

“With that kind of experience and a home crowd behind them, we certainly don’t want to get into a dogfight,” added Corcoran.

All the exuberance doesn’t hide the fact that football is the poor relation to hurling down in Rebel land. Corcoran accepts that as a fact of life.

“The hurlers are the All-Ireland champions and as you would expect they are commanding a huge following. Naturally the footballers don’t have that kind of following. But there is huge interest in football in the county and I want people to forget about knocking them and start supporting them.

“This is a young team on the verge of a breakthrough. There is huge potential in the county. The last two Munster U-21 have been won, while Cork is dominating Munster in the colleges and VEC competitions. It is not all doom and gloom. And we are hoping to kick-start something, beginning with tomorrow.”