‘We must bring it up to another level’

SIMPLY saying the names of the counties brings it all back. Cork-Meath. The tight shorts of the late eighties. Sulphurous clashes.

With Billy Morgan and Colm Coyle, pivotal figures in those games, in charge of their respective counties in tomorrow’s All-Ireland semi-final, then surely a lot of pent-up anger from those days will only need a flashpoint.

Er, no. People don’t seem to remember the two teams played in the 1999 All-Ireland final, which didn’t leave any bodies strewn across Croke Park. Nicholas Murphy recalls that afternoon, but even though he’ll see a familiar face at the throw-in, it’s all about this year for the Cork midfielder.

“I marked Nigel Crawford in the 1999 final, so I’ve a small bit of experience of playing against him. Mark Ward is a very big lad as well, but they’re both very mobile players also, so we’re going to have our hands full around the middle.

“There’ll probably be a lot of breaking ball in the middle of the field — it’s not really a case of two versus two any more so much as eight versus eight. It’ll be up to the half-backs and half-forwards — on both sides — to get involved in winning the loose ball.”

Murphy admits that Cork have been too focused on their own championship season to track Meath through the qualifiers.

“Realistically we’ve only seen the Tyrone game and the first half of their game against Galway, because obviously we were playing (against Louth), even though we didn’t know we’d be playing them at that stage. They’re obviously a big strong team, but they’ve come on in leaps and bounds since the Dublin matches. At the same time we wouldn’t fear them, we know we have room for improvement ourselves. Meath are a good side — they’ve some very dangerous forwards, particularly — but we wouldn’t fear them.”

Cork have been businesslike rather than spectacular since their Munster final loss to Kerry.

They’ve disposed of Louth and Sligo to get here, and the fact that pundits felt the Sligo game was one of the worst on record isn’t a factor for Murphy. He points out that beating the Connacht champions was a tougher assignment than first appeared.

“We knew those would be tough games, and the match against Louth was a particularly hard one — they’re no bad team. We still put up 16 points, which was good scoring from our point of view.

“As for Sligo, it was only our second time playing them, so we didn’t know what to expect. They’d still come out of Connacht, so you were going to have to treat them with caution. But once we got the goal in that game I always felt we had a good cushion — I don’t think they ever got within three points of us after that.

“At the same time it was important for us to push on after the goal and get a few points to drive us on again, but they made it very difficult for us all the way through — they seemed to play a very defensive style which was very hard for us to break down.

“It has been a case of us getting results, and we’ve been able to do that.”

One result of the Sligo game was a particular blow. James Masters shipped a heavy knock that’s ruled him out of tomorrow’s clash. Murphy is sympathetic.

“It’s very disappointing for James on a personal basis, just as it would be for any player missing out on an appearance in an All-Ireland semi-final. A lot of people have said we’re a one-man team, but we’re far from that. We’ve a lot of lads who can come in and do a job, and it’s up to the rest of the team to step up to the plate.

“Once you get to this stage of the championship then you’re going to have to bring it up another level anyway. You’re getting to the very end of the competition and the teams you’ll be playing are going to be better and better, obviously.

“Certainly James is going to be a loss, he’d have to be, but we’re hoping he won’t be as big a loss as people are making out. There’s plenty of cover and other players now have the chance to make their mark.”

There aren’t many survivors now from that ‘99 final on the Cork team, but Murphy is at pains to point out that the younger panellists aren’t necessarily looking to senior players for guidance.

“As a team we’ve been to the last two All-Ireland semi-finals, so there’s a good bit of experience there. We’ve had a few new faces come in again this year, which is no harm but in general lads have been here before — it’s getting past it now is the big challenge.

“The U-21s have All-Ireland experience, obviously, and it’s not just this year either — most of them were on the team that lost the All-Ireland final last year, so they’ve seen it from both sides. Now the fact that they’ve won an All-Ireland already this year has given everyone a big boost.

“It shows that they know what it takes to get over the line when it comes to the championship, so they’re pushing us just as we’re trying to help them.”