Allen: I have no doubt they’ll be back

LESS than 24 hours after the bitter disappointment of losing the All-Ireland final, Cork manager John Allen is adamant – this team will bounce back.

“There’s a huge winning mentality among that group of players, I have no doubt that they’ll be back eager and ready for training, once the beginning of the year comes. The talent is there, Brian (Corcoran) is the only fella into his 30’s, Pat Mul, all the rest of them should have at least a couple of years (to get to 30), minimum. I can honestly say I didn’t see a second of staleness in our fellas over the whole year. We mightn’t have played particularly well at times, but there was never a staleness or a dullness, never a reluctance to come to training. They did everything that was asked of them. I think there’s a huge desire to win among that group, I have no doubt they’ll be back.”

They’ve done it before, of course, came back from defeat (by Kilkenny, again) in 2003 to win in 2004 and 2005, so the precedent is there, even if the circumstances have changed.