Familiarity breeds respect and focus
Does that mean he takes a more prominent role preparing this Cork side ahead of Sunday’s final?
“Not really, no more than in any other game. This is an experienced bunch of lads, for a lot of them it’s their fourth final and they’ve played Kilkenny in three of them, so they’ve been through the mill. They’re experienced enough themselves, they don’t need to hear about me!”
Not when Kilkenny have been lighting up the skies for the last few weeks. Cunningham points to the Cats’ impressive march through summer.
“Kilkenny came through Leinster easily enough, I suppose the Leinster championship isn’t contested as closely now as the Munster championship. Still, they did what they had to do to beat Galway — they were 17 or 18 points up at one stage in that match but they probably took the foot off the pedal after that. They beat Clare afterwards as well, so they’ve done all they had to do.
“Against Clare I thought Kilkenny played well. Clare did well to recover after a poor start, but any team which scores 21 points and has 19 wides, like Kilkenny in that game, is one to be reckoned with.”
Obviously, then, the Leinster champions will provide Cork’s toughest opposition of the championship. Not so obvious, says Cunningham, pointing to a few narrow squeaks for the All-Ireland champions.
“That’s hard to say, Cork-Kilkenny finals are always hard to call. Kilkenny are unbeaten this year, they’re league champions.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a worry that we’ve come through some tight scrapes — we still came through those games. The Limerick game was a real banana skin for us — we had everything to lose in that game. Your first two Munster championship games and there’s a back door there, it’s a comfort zone.
“Against Limerick we were doing enough to win the match, but we lost the initiative — the rain came down, Limerick got a couple of scores and all of a sudden we looked to be in trouble.
“However, the lads held their heads well and recovered, and I thought we were much improved for the Waterford game. We needed to be, and we’ll need to improve again for the Kilkenny game.”
Cunningham acknowledges that Waterford had every reason to be confident ahead of the All-Ireland semi-final.
“Waterford came in on the back of winning four games, three in the qualifiers and a good win over Tipperary in the quarter-final. They came in with all guns blazing, and as the last team to beat Cork in the championship — in 2004 — they had a lot of confidence. I thought our lads improved a lot from the Limerick game, their attitude on and off the field was very good.
“Our aim this year all along was to get to the final and to play the last match. We’re going to have to give a performance, it’s an All-Ireland final, and how many times in a Cork-Kilkenny final have the underdogs won? I know those are old cliches but it’s going to be on the day.”
Given the Cats’ recent run of injuries, it’s tricky trying to name the exact 15 they’ll send out on Sunday without including JJ Delaney and Donncha Cody in defence. As Cunningham points out, however, this is Cork and Kilkenny’s third final clash in four years. That breeds familiarity.
“Kilkenny know our team,” says Cunningham.
“We’ve a fair idea of the six or eight forwards, for instance, they’ll pick their attack from — and if certain players don’t start they’ll probably appear at some stage during the match. We’ll be working on that basis and we’ll concentrate on our own performance.
“Obviously you keep an eye on the other team and how they’ll line out, but you focus on your own team.”
The words focus and Cork are personified in Donal Óg Cusack. As a former goalkeeper himself, Cunningham admired his successor’s late save from Ken McGrath’s free in the All-Ireland semi-final.
“To me it obviously showed his development over the last few years — to have the guts to do what he did took some nerve. Some people thought it hit the post, but he saved it — it was going two feet over the bar, and to have the control not only to save it but to put it where he did was absolutely fantastic. It’s something he’s been working on because small things can win or lose a match, and luckily enough it came off for us.”
Small things. Like being favourites on Sunday?
“Ah, it’s up to the bookies to decide who the favourites are. That doesn’t interest us. We’ve got a good run of games going and we hope our lads are focused. Playing in the final was our target, we’re there and we’ll have to perform.”
: Galway v Tipperary, Croke Park, 1.30pm (D Connolly, Kilkenny)
: Cork v Kilkenny, 3.30pm (B. Kelly, Westmeath).
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