Supporters drove us on, says scoring hero

JAMES MASTERS took a few seconds to blow out his cheeks before taking questions.

Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was the moment. How did it feel to win a Munster title?

“It’s unbelievable. I suppose we were always worried they’d come back when there was only a goal in it, but we tipped over a few points towards the end. “It’s the best feeling in the world. For the last couple of years some Cork supporters haven’t had any faith in us, but we’ve trained hard and we’ve shown we’re a good team.”

Asked if the criticism after the Limerick game had wounded the team, Masters said: “I suppose we were, but that drove us on down in Killarney and today. A lot of supporters ditched us but we proved today we’re not a bad team. The crowd who were here, they drove us on.

“We went four points up and Mike Frank (Russell) came on to get a few points, so we were worried, but we won some good 50-50 balls and a few that might have gone wide went over. You make your own luck.”

Masters’ kicking was incredible yesterday. So were the conditions, though for different reasons. “The wind was strange at times, but when it was in my favour I went for it. But those scores only came at the end of moves: there was an unmerciful work rate among the backs and the other forwards and they set the ball up perfectly for me at the end of the move.

Another day those shots could have gone wide. “The heat was unbearable out there. In the first half it was very hard to catch your breath, very hard to get your wind after making just one run. Still, as the lads said at half-time it’s exactly the same for everyone.”

Now Kerry have been beaten, are Cork real All-Ireland contenders?

“I don’t know about that — Graham (Canty) is injured in the dressing room. He’s one of the best players in Ireland and if he’s out he’ll be a huge loss.

“All I was looking for today was a Munster medal, we’ll go back training on Tuesday night for an All-Ireland quarter-final.”

Despite the whooping all around, Masters kept his focus and stayed on-message. The year isn’t over yet. “We got to an All-Ireland semi-final last year and look what happened. We had a great win against Galway and got beaten by Kerry. We’ll keep our feet on the ground. I know there’s a lot of celebrating around now but we won’t go mad tonight. We’ve an All-Ireland quarter-final to play.”