‘Any time you play Kerry you want to win’

OTHER than flopping in the qualifier competition in Hyde Park in 2003 and losing to Fermanagh in Croke Park the following year, the only real black mark against the Cork footballers relates to their collapse in the All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry two years ago.

It happened again at the same stage 12 months ago, except that this time it was a more ‘respectable’ defeat (in the sense that only six points separated the teams, compared to 13). And, as selector John Corcoran points out, there were mitigating circumstances.

Graham Canty was a notable absentee after suffering a serious knee injury in the Munster final replay, which meant that the Cork management had to ‘re-jig’ their team. On top of that, the team ‘didn’t play to their potential.’ Conversely, the Kingdom were a revitalised side after having laid down an important marker in their quarter-final victory over Armagh. “If you were to be clinical about it, Kerry won the game that mattered,’’ says Corcoran.

The big man from the St. Mary’s, Ballineen club has been thrust into the limelight as Billy Morgan withdraws more and more from the public glare. The way he talks about Sunday’s Munster SFC final in Fitzgerald Stadium, it’s clear that he doesn’t see it as a make-or-break game.

In reality it just marks the end of the provincial series. Win or lose, both teams will advance.

However, that’s not to suggest that he and Morgan won’t have their players primed up to win.

Nobody needs to tell Morgan what it means to beat Kerry in a Munster final, or what it feels like to lose. He played in 16 finals and picked up five medals before coming back for his first stint as manager to haunt the Kingdom in seven campaigns over a nine-year period.

“I think any true-blooded Corkman knows that there’s nothing better than facing Kerry in a Munster final, be it Killarney or Cork. Prior to the introduction of the backdoor, it was ‘the’ fixture, because if you lost the season was over and if you won you were moving on towards an All-Ireland final.

“So much has been diluted since. But, anytime you play Kerry you want to win. I don’t think either team will hold back — it’s not in fellows’ nature to do that.

“If we lose, we’ll go away and re-group and see what the qualifiers throw up. If we win, obviously we’ll be a step further down the road in our quest for an All-Ireland title.

“Kerry laid out their stall early in the year, I think it was Tom O’Sullivan who said they weren’t interested in Munster medals any more. The bigger picture for them is the Sam Maguire.’’

Corcoran says that the Cork players and management quickly overcame the disappointment of their Croke Park defeat and ‘knuckled down well’ over the winter.

Their League campaign started with a home defeat to Donegal and included a very impressive win over Tyrone. By general agreement, their only poor display was against Dublin. And while they lost to Kerry under lights in Tralee, Corcoran says the conditions were so bad and both teams were missing players that ‘you couldn’t read a whole lot’ into the game.

The real benefit of the campaign was that they used up to 23 players and helped the newer members of the squad to broaden their experience. Likewise, Corcoran highlights the benefit of having a number of their players involved with the All-Ireland U21 winning team.

“If you look at the strength of the panel, we have more or less two players battling for every position on the field. It puts a bigger onus on the selectors, but that’s the beauty of it. You can read a lot into the League but at the same time you have to see what’s going on in any particular county to gauge it’s true merit.

‘‘The Munster final takes on a life of its own. Last year we went to Killarney as underdogs, we were unlucky not to win, but we won the second day.’’