Cork mull over the key calls

CORK coach Conor Counihan has admitted the side he names tonight for Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final may not be the 15 that lines up in Croke Park against Pat Gilroy’s Dublin.

The Cork management team met last night to select the side but major doubts remain over Graham Canty and Ciarán Sheehan.

There is also likely to be a number of personnel changes from the starting line-up for the quarter-final victory over Roscommon.

It’s not the smoothest preparation for Sunday’s semi-final but Counihan said that the management team is used to juggling resources at this stage.

Canty and Sheehan have been battling hamstring and knee injuries respectively since the Roscommon victory and while the Eire Óg man has responded well to treatment for a cartilage problem, Canty’s prospects are less favourable.

“The reality of the situation is that we’re picking a team now but that may not be the team that starts because of injuries,” said Counihan.

“We just don’t know yet with the two lads. They could need the time between now and the weekend to get right. We hope that a clearer picture will emerge closer to the game.”

It presents another huge judgement call for the Cork management team which has faced criticism in the past for their selections, not least in the wake of last September’s All-Ireland final defeat to Kerry.

There’s a growing view that win or lose this season, Counihan may not seek another term as Cork coach, a further indication of the pressure and intensity at this level.

“Pundits aren’t aware of what goes on in training, who is fit, who’s going well,” Counihan explained. “Fellas come into form at different stages of the season; you go in with a set 15 in your head and then some guy goes off the boil and some other player finds a bit of form.

“The biggest factor for us this year has been injuries. You just didn’t know who you had and when you had them,” Counihan explained.

“It would be a great headache to have everyone fit for Sunday. It would present us with a problem but it’s a problem we’d love. Some guysare capable of playing 30 minutes, not 70 – do you start them, do you bring them in?” he said.

Such is the case with midfielder Nicholas Murphy, who is pushing hard for a starting place after an impressive cameo against Roscommon, and defender John Miskella.

If both started and Eoin Cadogan came into the defence for Canty, Cork could end up with five changes from the starting 15 against the Connacht champions, a third of the team.

Getting the mix right is something that has eluded Cork this season, but they’ve been winning nonetheless.

“You get 70 minutes on the day to get it right and we haven’t played as well or as attractively as last year,” admitted Counihan, “but perhaps some teams have set themselves up to stop that in a way.

“Defensively we are conceding less than we were last year and I’d say we’ve had patches in all the games where we did play well. The issue for us is that we didn’t sustain it over a longer period of time.”

If Ciarán Sheehan declares himself fit to start, that could mean Colm O’Neill is the odd one out in aforward division that is likely toinclude Donncha O’Connor from the start. The Cork selectors have anumber of midfield options and if they opt not to start NicholasMurphy, it’ll be two of three from Derek Kavanagh, Alan O’Connor or Aidan Walsh.

However the key issue is in defence, which has been disrupted at various intervals this season with the absence of Canty, Miskella and Anthony Lynch. Who starts at centre back for Cork may not be as important as the individual match ups with the Dublin attack. It was an area the Cork management got wrong in last year’s final.

Counihan has heard it all, of course, and empathises with the microscopic attention his opposite number, Pat Gilroy, faces on an ongoing basis.

“We’re in a results business,” he declared. “There have been times when people were doubting the Dublin management but they’ve proved everyone wrong. The fact is that they are only one of four teams left in the Championship.”

Whatever team Cork select, their coach is again likely to watch their attempts to take control of Sunday’s semi-final from the stands.

He says it provides him with a better overview but accepts that games at this level, particularly in the second halves, tend to take on a life of their own.

“Once the game starts, our input is very limited; even at half time there is only so much you get through.

“But this week there’s a great buzz. It’s that time of year isn’t it? All-Ireland semi final, it’s Dublin, plus the fact that the hurlers are out means we are expected to do the business.

“Maybe with some of the teams we’ve faced (in the qualifiers), people didn’t rate them and self-motivation was difficult. Now the job is to get past Dublin and into an All-Ireland final. In terms of motivation, that’s as big as it gets.”