‘All of Cork will be against us, but we don’t care’

OPENING an interview with a manager whose side are facing a big game by telling him you’re wishing for a win for the opposition is probably not the best idea in the world.

It’s a measure of the maturity and the intelligence of Bernie O’Connor that he didn’t bat an eyelid.

Tomorrow, Newtownshandrum take on Cloyne in the Cork county senior hurling final, the Little All-Ireland; almost the whole of Cork will be willing on Cloyne, the team from a village steeped in tradition though yet to win a senior crown. As the man who himself led Newtown to the same breakthrough five years ago, Bernie understands.

“Oh yeah, certainly I realise that. I’ve said it to our own team, stand below at the clubhouse, go a mile in any direction, you’re in another parish (which should give an indication of how small is the half-parish that is Newtownshandrum), and we run out of support, everyone will want to see us beaten. But we don’t give a damn.

“We’ve our own support, even from outside the parish. The bulk of our support will come from Duhallow and south Limerick, we’ve an unshakeable support base.”

O’Connor has long preached a gospel of intelligent hurling, not just intelligent use of the ball, but intelligent use of personnel. With a team of lightly-built but lightning-fast players, he devised a hard-running, short-passing, possession and support-based revolutionary game, that caused consternation in the traditional ranks. It won Newtown three U-21A county titles in a row, won them their first county senior title in 2000, then three years later swept them to All-Ireland glory.

Bernie wasn’t there for the latter triumph, though. “I would be very hard on them. There’s never an easy moment, forcing, driving, the whole time, and fellas can get fed up of that. Anyway, they won the All-Ireland, so maybe it was the best thing, for all of us.” While he was away he saw Cork, backboned by his twin sons Ben and Jerry and his centre-back, Pat Mulcahy (“A rock when Diarmuid O’Sullivan was still a pebble!”) win two All-Ireland titles using a variation of his game. Now Cloyne have done the same.

Physically there’s a major difference between the sides, but they play the same game.

“Doing it well too,” reckons Bernie. “They’re a fierce side to get goals, which will make it very hard for us. If our defence can’t stand up to that, we could be in trouble. They have a desire to win that no other team in Cork has; we have to match that.

“Not alone will we be beaten, but pieces of them will be found up in the stands, not because Cloyne will be dirty, but because they’ll be hitting hard, legitimately. Cloyne have the physique, and they’re quite entitled to use it.

“People look on Cloyne as old and slow. I don’t. They have size and strength, and the heavier conditions will suit them more than us, but they also have pace, and skill. The ball comes down off the air now, and it will stick; you’re not going to be able to run onto that ball and flick it up, like you can in the middle of summer. Conditions are an awful leveller, but we can do nothing about that. If you want to be the best, you have to be able to win in all conditions.”

Can Newtown win? Again a straight reply.

“I respect them, but I fear nobody. If our game is right, we’ll win, and I’m not saying that in a big-headed way, but I’m around long enough to know you can always be beaten. I think we’re a better side, all things being equal. If we’re not mentally right, we haven’t a hope, but I think we’re right. It’s all down to how you’re prepared, mentally - the inner motivation makes you give your best.

“It’s no good me standing in front of a fella, roaring. But someone sits down there quietly, motivates himself, when he can find his own blood boiling, he’s right then.”

Tomorrow there’ll be 30 such individuals, because seldom have two such highly-driven and focused teams met. It may not necessarily be pretty, but this one will be pretty intense. That often makes a far better spectacle.