Respect, but no time for sentiment for modest Masters

WITH a surname made for headline writers, James Masters’ public profile has been enhanced by his scoring exploits with club and county ever since he captained Cork to victory over Mayo in the All-Ireland minor final of 2000.

However, in private, he’s quite different. Modest about his achievements, and genuine in his admission that in a Nemo Rangers set-up where there is so much competition for places, he is not guaranteed automatic selection.

On Sunday he’s in line to win his fifth Cork senior football championship medal when the city side line up against Dohenys in the first meeting of the clubs in a final in 31 years. With strong family connections with West Cork, he’s very much aware of what one victory would mean to the club and the area itself, but at this level of competition there’s no room for emotion. He knows where to draw the line, as does his father, a Bus Éireann inspector from Kilmichael.

“I have big connections down there,’’ he points out.

“My two cousins actually play with Dohenys ladies footballers, Breda and Linda O’Connor, and I have cousins in Bantry. We respect Dohenys greatly as a team and as players. I played with two of them with Cork minors, Paul Deane and John Collins, we’d be good friends.”

James’ achievements with Nemo and Cork have come with an added price since he graduated from the Garda College and was assigned to the station in Shannon. But, it’s a price that he willingly pays without complaint.

When we spoke, in Nemo’s magnificent new complex after training on Tuesday night, he had come directly from work after finishing at 4pm. Over the weekend, when he was on night duty, he left Shannon at 6am on Sunday after completing his shift and drove to Cork. After training, the squad went to the beach. Missing out on his sleep, he returned that evening to start another shift at 10pm.

“I’m lucky they’re very nice to me in the station, especially in the All-Ireland series,’’ he commented.

While he’s now firmly established in the Nemo set-up, it took him longer than he might have expected to settle into the team. His first year, in 2000, coincided with the Cork minor campaign, when Billy Morgan was in charge and current manager Ephie Fitzgerald was one of the selectors. It was a case of trying to juggle both involvements, he recalls.

“When I started, I was going on my 18th birthday and I was in one corner, William Morgan (son of Noel) was in the other corner and Colin (Corkery) at full-forward. I got injured after that game and missed out. Basically for three years in a row I started every first-round game and I got injured afterwards, with the result that I found it impossible to get my place back.

“But, that’s just the way it was — with the talent available. And it’s the exact same thing now. If a fellow misses a game he’s going to find it very hard to get back if we keep winning. The motto is you never change a winning team.’’

After yet another demanding club campaign, which ended in a surprise defeat at the hands of Antrim champions St Galls in the All-Ireland semi-final, Nemo were back in action in the 2006 county championship a few weeks later. And again they tasted defeat, this time against Ballincollig.

“We were county champions and Munster champions and all of a sudden you were going into a first round game after the St Galls game. Everyone flying fit.

“Ballincollig are a very good team, with some very good individuals. We started off that game well and we had 1-2 or 1-3 on the board after about five minutes., but they clawed their way back and got the goals at the vital times to kill us off. It was a surprise I suppose, that we lost. We had a serious rethink about our situation and we had a meeting where we laid out everything on the table.

“It cleared the air in a lot of ways, because we didn’t do ourselves justice against St Gall’s. We were all flying fit and we went into the game thinking we were going to beat them.”

Once more juggling club and county (excelling in the Munster final replay when he scored a crucial goal), it was back to the county championship after Cork’s interest in the All-Ireland series ended with that defeat by Kerry.

“It was the same last year. I know we don’t get a break, but at the end of the day you don’t need it either,’’ he added.

“At the same time, it would be nice if you were able to go on holidays!’’

Wins over St Finbarr’s and Clonakilty brought them through to play Duhallow in the semi-final, where they were held to a draw. His feeling at the final whistle was one of relief, even though it was the divisional side who actually saved the game with a late goal.

“We were relieved we were still in the championship because we hadn’t played well. Our tactics didn’t work against them, because they are a good short-passing team. They counteracted us well.

“In the replay, we felt we played good enough football — not the football we can play, but, we are getting there. To be honest, I think we’re still not playing the way we can play, but we are getting there. Hopefully we’ll get it right on Sunday.’’