Gardiner urges busy Rebels to raise game again

HECTIC. That’s the first word that leaps to John Gardiner’s mind when you ask about the last few weeks for the Cork hurling camp.

“Three weeks in-a-row, and tough enough games. It’s been hectic. It’s good to have a break, the Dublin game was tougher than we expected and we weren’t as fresh going into the Galway game as we’d thought.

“Having three competitive games was very demanding, and we also trained very hard the week of the Dublin game, and that’s no disrespect to Dublin, we tried to keep it ticking over for the Galway game, with recovery and pool sessions and so on.”

Victory over Galway brought Cork up against Clare. Another thriller. Another dogfight.

“The first half wasn’t great against Clare, we’ll be hoping it’s not like that on Sunday. We picked it up in the second-half, but Kilkenny are the best team around and we can’t afford to do that against them.”

Doing the right thing, and the wrong thing, leads us to Cork’s defeat by Tipp in the Munster final.

“After the Tipp game I didn’t think we’d done an awful lot wrong. We did very well in the first 20 minutes and then going into the Dublin game we did a lot of heavy training. Maybe the performance reflected that.

“Overall we haven’t done a lot different compared to other years. It’s been a matter of getting things right, and that’s what happened in the last couple of games. Fellas are up for it — you could see that in the second halves of those last two games, we pushed on hard, and the intensity levels in those games were huge.”

That intensity will be needed against Kilkenny, as Gardiner admits. Having been there himself in 2006, he puts the three-in-a-row talk in perspective.

“They’ve have been the best team in the country for a few years. They’ve an incredible squad, while the intensity they have in training is well documented. They’re hot favourites and probably rightly so, they have great players, so their position is justified.

“To compete you have to be at your best, and some fellas are going to have to play above themselves. We won two All-Irelands and they took it on again, so to compete with them we’ll have to play above ourselves.

“The three-in-a-row thing is more media hype. It’s probably in the back of Kilkenny minds, but that’s not a matter for us. We’re looking forward to it, you want to pit yourself against the best.”

Though Diarmuid O’Sullivan was questioned after the Clare game, he lines out at number three on Sunday. The stand-in is happy enough to be back at wing-back.

“It’s a squad game,” says Gardiner, “During the game you could find yourself anywhere. I don’t know whether it’ll be there for the future, but at any stage you could find yourself in any position. You’ve to concentrate on your own game anyway; any time I play for Cork I don’t mind if I’m full-back or out the field. If it’s something that has to be done, then it has to be done.”

Though Thurles remains a favourite haunt, Gardiner doesn’t see Sunday’s venue being an issue, even to the younger lads.

“Everyone’s played in Croke Park maybe with the exception of Patrick Horgan. We might prefer to be playing in Thurles, but it won’t make a difference.

“At the start of the year when we went to La Manga we saw the potential of the younger lads, and the likes of Patrick and Paudie (O’Sullivan) are the future of Cork hurling. The fact that they’re pushing for places has pushed the other lads.”

This Cork team has been on the road for quite a while. Their captain sees that as a benefit, not a disadvantage: “When the media and people say you can’t do something it drives you on. There’s great belief in this team and [tomorrow] we’re probably up against our biggest challenge, given how Kilkenny have been going, but we back ourselves in most situations.

“Before Galway fellas were nitpicking about us, pointing out that Joe (Deane) hadn’t played well, lads were over 30, but we believed we could do it.

“Joe and the other lads have been quality players for over years. You don’t lose your appetite overnight and they’re still able to produce the goods, year in, year out. It’s not a surprise. They’ll have to go at some stage, but hopefully not this year.

“They have huge experience, as underdogs and favourites, so hopefully that’ll bring the other lads on.”

Then it’s off to training. Hectic, just like we said.