Quirke: resilient Rebels will battle on

NO ONE can dispute that the Cork footballers have served time in the school of hard knocks in recent years.

After every Croke Park setback in recent years, they have dusted themselves down and prepared for the next year’s campaign with the earnest hope that they can calibrate their summer run perfectly.

But within the squad they have become irritated with learning for the future and are more concerned with achieving in the present. That starts next Sunday in Killarney against Kerry, where they aim to illustrate how they have rectified the past failings.

“Yeah, we probably are tired of learning things, alright,” admits goalkeeper Alan Quirke. “The options are that we pack it in or keep trying. We’re going to keep trying to put those lessons into practice and we’re confident we might get there eventually.

“All we can do as a group of players is try and improve every year, individually and as a group, on and off the field. If that’s good enough, it’s good enough. If it’s not, we can’t have any complaints afterwards.

“The main lesson is that every day you go out you’ve got to bring huge hunger and appetite. Teams are so even nowadays that even if you drop by any couple of per cent, you’re going to be on the back foot. Tactically, you’ve got to understand as well that Kerry are very versatile and they can change their game plan from time to time. That would be something we could have done over the years ourselves going into big games, having beaten them earlier on in the year. But it’s the start of championship 2010 so it’s a new slate. Nobody gives you the right to be there in September. The only right you have is to start on the start-line in June or May, and after that it’s up to yourself.”

Quirke’s own efforts into correcting past mistakes have been restricted thus far in 2010 as he has been beset by injury problems. He’s been stationed in a sideline observation post with Paddy O’Shea and Ken O’Halloran vying for supremacy between the goalposts.

“A couple of injuries coming into the league meant I was struggling for a lot of it. Conor used different players in every position really. You want to have a situation where there are at least two players fighting for each position, so it’s been positive. Both Ken and Paddy played very well in every match they played, so it’s a positive.”

The specialist nature of goalkeeping means Quirke is not afforded the luxury of outfield players where he can try to force his way into another line in the team. He appreciates the battle to keep his spot in the starting 15 but is enthused rather than spooked by the infusion of youngsters in the setup.

“Certainly you’d be worried when you see fellas playing well, there’s no doubt about it. But we get on well, the three of us, so there is no ill-feeling or anything like that. We train hard together and then on the day of the match, whoever has taken possession of the jersey will get the good wishes of whoever is there. All three of us want to play but there is only one goalkeeping position.

“But it’s great to see new fellas coming on to the panel. It adds an extra dimension to the whole thing. Those lads have all come through the underage structures where they won numerous titles, so it doesn’t faze them at all. As the older lads, we could probably learn more from them. They play with more abandon than us at times, because they have the habit of winning growing up.”