No double vision in Cork camp

DON’T talk about the “double” to the Cork footballers!

Okay, it’s there in the background, the prospect of Billy Morgan’s team getting to the All-Ireland final and “joining” the hurlers, even the possibility of twin successes to emulate the achievement of the teams of 1990. Billy Morgan was the coach back then and one of his selectors was Sean Murphy, a Cork star of the ‘70’s who is again part of the current management team.

Fifteen years ago, the Cork teams qualified for the finals on consecutive Sundays - the hurlers first (with a win over Antrim) and the footballers by beating Roscommon. Murphy’s recollection is that at the time “it was more a public thing” than something which preoccupied the minds of players. “The public are again talking of a double, but that’s a long, long way away,” he comments.

“Our total focus is on Kerry. And, even if we did get to the final, each team has to do its own thing.”

While acknowledging that the Cork team has steadily improved - and has come a long way from losing to Fermanagh in the qualifiers last year - Murphy points out that it will count for nothing if they don’t beat their neighbours at the second attempt. “Yes, we have made progress, but at the same time we have won nothing. These guys are all about winning, very serious about their football.

“Outsiders will say Cork football has advanced and, of course, it has. But, even after the good performance in the Munster final, the players were still devastated they lost. Maybe in the long winter nights the players might look on it like that, but right now, if they don’t win, they’ll view it as a failure of a year!”

Murphy says that last year’s defeat in Croke Park took them all by surprise and left them dejected. “Any time you go to Killarney it’s difficult at the best of times against Kerry. But, none of us saw the Fermanagh result coming up to track. If you think that the year before, Limerick and Roscommon had beaten the bulk of that team and the year before that Kerry had annihilated them in Croke Park. From a confidence point of view we were at the bottom. Maybe it wasn’t pleasant at the time, but in hindsight we have all learned from it.”

Yet, for all the progress that has been made, Murphy concedes that Kerry have the edge on experience, based on how well the recovered from that series of major defeats in the All-Ireland series, starting with the beating which Meath inflicted on them. And, how well they bounced back under Jack O’Connor to regain the All-Ireland title last season.

“While they talk about the northern teams becoming physical, Kerry have become adept at negative tactics. They have become quite adept at adjusting their game. They are no longer the purists of football, they now can ‘mix it’ both ways,” he stated.

“The one thing they got from winning the All-Ireland last year was confidence. I have no doubt that they expect to beat Cork on Sunday, despite what they are saying, coming across the border and saying ‘they’re afraid’ to Cork. What I say is, if you asked Kerry if they wanted to play Cork, Tyrone or Armagh in the All-Ireland semi-final - I know which one they would pick. They’d pick Cork, despite what they say!”

In terms of their preparation for Sunday’s semi-final, Murphy agrees that Cork were “lucky” with the two teams they met en route. “We were lucky in the sense that these teams allowed us to improve. We drew Sligo which, let’s be honest about it, we weren’t unhappy about. And, of all the provincial teams we could have played, we would again have chosen Galway. We wouldn’t have fancied a team like Armagh at that stage, or Dublin. The Sligo game was ‘dangerous’ for us because we were favourites and we had to run with that tag. But they adjusted and they performed.

“The Galway game was always going to be fifty/fifty. But, our team performed well, despite putting themselves under pressure by conceding the two easy goals (in the first half). That was another side we saw to this team - it was the first time they came back in the qualifiers in Croke Park and won.

“We are confident of beating Kerry, but we still have to go out and do it! This game will show how much we have improved since we played them last.”