O’Connor relishing main event

AS modes of recovery go, theirs was plucked straight from leftfield.

When the Cork footballers came to plot a route back from the abyss they visited after last September’s shattering All-Ireland final reversal, there was an acute sense that a different take was required to aid their rehabilitation.

The interest levels in playing football again were scant, so instead Noel O’Leary pointed them in the direction of the unlikely environs of Rylane Boxing Club.

For two months in deep winter they gathered and trained under the tutelage of local trainer Dan Lane, and found the novelty of a different competitive sport made the weekly sparring sessions seem less like a chore.

They participated in a charity boxing tournament on December 27th, jetted off to Thailand for a fortnight in early January and when they returned they were ready for a new campaign on the pitch again.

The toxins of that defeat to Kerry had been flushed out of the system and 2010 was dawning on them, crammed with possibilities.

“I think that boxing really helped us,” notes Donncha O’Connor.

“Every fella was the same, not really wanting to get back to it after the All-Ireland. It was just a small bit of training we were doing for charity, but it helped us a lot in getting going again. When we got back from the holiday, we were ready for football.

“We were very disappointed after the All-Ireland, we felt that we didn’t play to our potential really. We were a bit down about it but you can only be down for a small while because no one cares who lost an All-Ireland last year.”

They began their league camcpaign with modest aims. Three victories was identified in the dressing-room as their immediate target, an aim that if achieved would preserve their Division 1 status.

When Maurice Condon’s final whistle shrilled on the night of Saturday March 6 in Páirc Uí Rinn, they had already realised that ambition with a flawless record in their first three games.

But it was on the league’s opening day that they had set the tone in Scotstown, 12 months after being usurped by Monaghan on a grim afternoon when the rain spat incessantly from the sky.

“I think that was the most pleasing performance we had,” says O’Connor.

“We were only back about two weeks and it’s very hard to get a win up there, especially in Scotstown. We started well, they came back and went up about two or three points with about two or three minutes to go and ended up winning it by a point. I think that was the most pleasing performance that we had.”

Since then they have meandered their way to a league final more by accident than design.

O’Connor’s campaign suffered an interruption when he was flashed a red card during Cork’s setback in Omagh, which precluded him from being involved in the encounters against Dublin and Derry. In the last couple of weeks he has found another avenue to sharpen his match practice, shooting 0-15 as Duhallow surmounted two championship hurdles in the Cork SFC.

O’Connor feels he required those game considering the intense competition for places currently amongst the Cork attack.

“If you get suspended or you’re injured, there’s so many fellas willing to come in and all seem to be playing at the same level.

“Those two championship games hopefully benefited me. But I think it would have to be our strongest panel at the moment because you look at Graham (Canty) has played half an hour in the league and Johnny (Miskella) has played nothing at all.

“It’s promising to think that we got to a league final without those two. There’s been a lot of chopping and changing in the league so you’ve just got to stay on your toes whether you’re playing or not.”

With the abundance of young players featuring in the panel, O’Connor’s role has become more significant this season as one of the more experienced operators.

“I suppose you would feel a little bit more confident now in the squad. I think it’s important that it’s not the same person talking all the time, that they change it around a bit.

“If you hear someone like Nicky (Murphy) or Graham (Canty) saying, ‘Would you mind saying a few words?’ and you’d be taken a back a bit by it. Everyone kind of has a turn really, no one does it all the time. We kind of move it around. It works for some fellas, other fellas don’t like it and they don’t have to do it really.”