Cork football in rude health, claims O’Connor

THE year might have ended in disappointment for Cork, but the long-term prognosis is that football in the county has rarely been healthier.

That’s the opinion of Rebel attacker, Donncha O’Connor, who is eagerly looking forward to next season and a chance to finally get his hands on the Sam Maguire Cup.

Central to the optimism of the Ballydesmond sharpshooter, and of Cork supporters in general, is the calibre of player being produced by the underage structures.

All-Ireland U21 titles have been garnered in 2007 and 2009, and hopes are high that the yield from these times might be similar to that spawned from the three-in-a-row winning sides of 1984-86.

Barry Coffey, Paul McGrath, Teddy McCarthy, Tony Davis, Tony Nation, Mick Slocum, Niall Cahalane, Mick McCarthy, Danny Cullotty, John Cleary, Colm O’Neill, John O’Driscoll and Denis Walsh all went on to win senior All-Irelands for the Leesiders.

Another Colm O’Neill established himself in Conor Counihan’s side this year after skippering the U21s to ultimate victory, and looks certain to have a long career in the red jersey.

Fintan Goold was captain of the 2007 champions and has been a member of the panel for a number of years.

Perhaps the brightest star is Ciarán Sheehan however, who looked bound for the AFL during the summer, when he agreed a two-year international rookie contract with Setanta O hAilpín’s Carlton Blues.

He had a change of heart however, and O’Connor cannot hide his excitement, reckoning that the Leaving Cert student might well have earned a starting place had he been available during the summer.

“They won two All-Irelands in the last three years at U21. A lot of them came through last year. The likes of Ciarán Sheehan; only that he went to Australia last summer, I actually think he would have been very close to have been playing.

“He went there, he didn’t like it, so he’s going to be there from day one this time.”

As for the All-Ireland final, O’Connor says he’s “just about” over it now although “it took a while”.

Not reacting well to such a good start disappoints him the most but he rejects the commonly-held assertion that Cork continue to have some mental issue with facing Kerry in Croke Park.

“The most disappointing thing is we left ourselves down really ‘cos we only played maybe 10 minutes of the match. I don’t think any fella could be very happy with his performance. You’re not going to even win the first round of a championship playing 10 minutes, not to mind an All-Ireland final. We needed to have kept it going.

“Kerry have proved they’re a super team. When you’re four or five points up on Kerry, it’s then you drive on even more, not sit back. I just hope we learn a bit from it.

He continued: “A lot of people say Kerry seem to play well when they get to Croke Park but looking at the past three or four years, I think that we’ve performed nearly as good as them on a lot of days.

“This year, I don’t think it had anything to do with the team we were playing. We started off flying… I think a lot of it was our own doing. I do think we sat back a little too much.”