Cusack the last man standing

It’s been Donal Óg Cusack’s life for over a decade. When the evenings lengthen, it’s only a matter of time before the shuddering collisions of the Munster championship begin.

He and his Cork teammates have had two fractured off-seasons in a row, but the goalkeeper doesn’t think that’ll have much of an effect tomorrow.

“There’s pressure on you when you’re playing for Cork any year,” he says.

“We’re heading to play Tipperary in Thurles and what’s going on outside the camp or what’s going on outside the field, I don’t know does it have that much influence on proceedings on the field or on guys’ mindsets.

“It’s understandable why Tipperary are such hot favourites. You’re probably thinking, ‘It’s a press conference and fellas are going to be giving their stereotypical answers’, but it’s not anyone trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes or blow up the opposition or anything like that — it’s just the fact of the matter.

“The hurling world would have seen what’s been happening with us and the hurling world would have seen Tipperary’s performance against Kilkenny in the NHL final. It’s fairly obvious where that mindset has come from.”

Cork had their own performance against Kilkenny — a drubbing in Nowlan Park. Was that a shock?

“It was definitely... we took a hammering on the day. That happens in sport some days, you go out and you take a beating like that. Having said that, there were a lot of experiences that day and incidents and things that happened, you don’t forget those too easily. Maybe you can take them with you and turn those negatives, or what you’d call negative experiences, into a positive in the future.”

And the Cork mindset?

“We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see that. Genuinely, it’s about us concentrating on our own game and our own performances, and going out there and giving as good as we can.

“The great thing about sport, especially in places like Thurles, the truth is out there. If you want to know the truth about yourself and the team, that’s where you’ll find it.”

The flip side of that credo is the high price of failure, however.

“In a way, that’s some of the attraction to the game and some of the beauty of sport. There is very little certainty about those type of games, and I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but the only certainty is uncertainty.”

Cusack cites Leinster’s recent success as evidence of how that uncertainty operates: “You can take inspiration from anybody. They don’t have to be sports people. I know on a personal level I’d be constantly on the lookout for that because of the importance of motivation and having energy.

“Energy comes from being motivated, and you need to find sources for that motivation, be they a Leinster rugby player or whatever. Personally I’d have great respect for the Munster rugby guys over the years and a lot of individuals on the team, the likes of O’Gara and O’Connell.

“Any of these guys you can look for inspiration from. All you have to do is look on the internet. I was looking at a thing the other night, Team Hoyte — this guy’s son was an invalid and the son asked him to run a race; he started taking the son to races and then he ended up doing triathlons with him.

“For any guy that has any interest in sport I’d recommend you go home and type Team Hoyt into Youtube.”

This is Cusack’s first Sunday in a long time without Diarmuid O’Sullivan. It’s a big change for the clubmates.

“Maybe there are times in your career when you think the thing is never going to end. I was only talking about him the other night, and he’s been a fantastic player, and you think of all the entertainment he brought, not alone to Cork people but even people in other counties would probably say the same.

“He’s a loss to us and to the game, but he’d be the first to tell you that you need to take those things on the chin. Everything moves on.

“The same thing is going to happen to me in time, whenever it happens. That’s again one of the beauties of sport, nothing stays the same. I think since we’ve been young, we’ve walked down the Square afterwards and as many days as possible we’ve gone for a pint together. Maybe that might happen on Sunday — but it will be different because he won’t be playing.”

It means the goalkeeper will have a relatively inexperienced full-back line in front of him tomorrow.

“I think a lot of those guys are very experienced and intelligent in themselves to get to be picked for this level. You’re right in what you’re alluding to, in that it’s probably one of the unseens in what goes on when you’re talking about goalkeepers and full-back lines — it’s very important guys are comfortable with the people around them and relaxed.

“So that’s something that I’d be very conscious of as a player and you’d be working on with all of the backs.”

With the pressure, the winter just gone, how enjoyable is the experience, all in all?

“I ndeireadh na dala, we’re all hurling men at heart. I know what’s in my head, I know what was in my head when I woke up on Monday morning and I saw the sun shining. I said to myself “Isn’t it great we’re heading to Thurles on Sunday?”

“Would you call it sacrifice? I think we love the game. Yeah, we’ve faced certain challenges that maybe are not the standard challenges you expect to face as a sports player, but we took them on, we took it on, we got on with it.

“I can guarantee you it’s not in guys’ brains.

“I haven’t room for that kind of stuff to be in there. That’s not a press conference answer, that’s what is in my brain.”

May. Cork and Tipp. Thurles. What else is there?