Cork unearthing attacking gems in the unlikeliest of places

OVER two decades, the landscape has shifted irrevocably. During Cork’s football hegemony in gaining consecutive All-Ireland senior titles in 1989 and 1990, their scoretakers in the full-forward line came from the city powers of Nemo Rangers and Bishopstown, and the West Cork strongholds of Castlehaven and O’Donovan Rossa.

The only player outside of the senior club group was Midleton’s Colm O’Neill, full-forward on the 1990 side, and, with some deviations, the trend of senior clubs dominating Cork inside lines has continued ever since. But the sense that the lesser lights are coming to the fore in Cork football has gained greater currency in recent years and next Sunday’s is the most vivid manifestation of that.

Daniel Goulding, Colm O’Neill and Donncha O’Connor make up the Cork full-forward line but it is their origins that are most striking. The trio hail from Ballydesmond, Ballyclough and Éire Óg, three clubs whose football histories have seen modest achievements. It’s a remarkable feat, a tribute to the efforts of the clubs involved but also to those in charge of Cork teams for trawling the county in search of talent.

All three clubs currently operate in the second tier of Cork’s intermediate football grade, but four years ago all three were operating in the lowly climes of divisional junior football. In 2004, Ballyclough won their first Avondhu crown in 66 years; in 2007, Ballydesmond ended a 21-year wait for a Duhallow title, while Éire Óg triumphed in Muskerry last year for the first time since 1976. At the fore of each club’s renaissance was their leading attacker. Cork IT Sigerson Cup-winning coach Keith Ricken has coached all three players. “These guys were good players before they ever come in. What CIT does is it acts a good springboard to allow them to get to the next level.”

Cork U21 boss John Cleary is well placed to appraise Goulding and O’Neill, having tutored both.

“Both these guys were on our radar straight away after coming through minor level. They may have come from small clubs but their pedigree was well flagged and they really excelled in the U21 grade. There was a great example in the 2007 All- Ireland final when Daniel scored a fantastic goal before half-time and then Colm got the match-winning goal. That showed both could step up.”

In all three clubs, there is a strong sense of pride beaming through at their attacking sensations.

“It’s amazing for us to have a player involved in an All-Ireland senior final,” remarks Ballyclough board delegate Jim Woulfe. “When I came to the parish 25 years ago, we didn’t even have a pitch and it’s only six years since we were Junior B. Now we’re intermediate, have a pitch, stand, dressing rooms and two players in Colm and Paul O’Flynn on the Cork senior panel. There are only 400 houses in the parish but already this year we have the Sigerson Cup winning captain and the All-Ireland U21 winning captain.”

“I’d feel that players from small clubs coming through for Cork augurs well for the future,” says Éire Óg chairman Leo Lowney. “Éire Óg has a strong hurling tradition but football has improved a lot and that can be seen by someone like Daniel making progress. Daniel has always been a serious talent and since he was U12, his name was on the lips of most people as one to look out for. His goalscoring is probably his biggest asset, he’s shown that for Cork this year but I think his best goal was in the U21 final in 2007. He’s a great club man and played brilliantly in a club game two nights after the 2007 All-Ireland final.”

“We’d felt that Donncha got a raw deal at minor and U2l,” recalls Ballydesmond PRO Paudie Herlihy. “I remember in one U21 match, he was taken off after 10 minutes. Ger O’Sullivan and Billy Morgan brought him on and really assisted him. He’s a great driving force for us. In 2007 he was man of the match in the All-Ireland semi-final. The following night he was down in Ballydesmond training with us at half seven. That’s some commitment to give.”

During the underage days, there were instructive vignettes as to each player’s potential. Woulfe remembers in 2001, in the primary game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, O’Neill featuring in Cork colours for the first time and leaving his mark in the half-time exhibition with a blistering 2-2 return. For Lowney, the 2002 Cork Minor A final in Brinny on a withering December day stands out. Éire Óg faced Carrigaline in a keenly contested clash decided by a wondrous late goal from Goulding. O’Herlihy talks about the 1997 county minor decider when Ballydesmond transformed a 1-10 to 0-1 half-time deficit into a 1-11 to 1-10 full-time triumph, and a 16-year-old Donncha O’Connor chalked up 1-10 to his name.

“Whether they’re from a junior or intermediate club doesn’t matter,” says Cleary. “It’s all about your talent and whether you can fit in.”