Pat Spillane is going to have a field day

I CAN’T remember which Ulster final, but it was recent, and in the Sunday Game studio they were jawing about the abject fare on display. With a sense of urgency one northern contributor explained that neither side was there to entertain. That was for circus acts. This was all about winning.

I think he was wrong, but history suggests I’m the romantic fool. In 1987, the Cork team I was part of went to Dublin with their new suits and idealistic notions for an All-Ireland final rendezvous with Meath. We got tarred.

The following year we learned a bit, but this time after a replay, we still went home from a date with Meath with our tails between our legs.

There was a league defeat thrown in there too at which point Billy Morgan got us down on our knees in the dressing room to pray for one more opportunity for retribution and revenge.

That 1990 All-Ireland final scenario is not dissimilar to what Cork face into tomorrow at Croke Park. Forget the opposition for a moment and focus on the mindset. That day against Meath we had Colm O’Neill sent off early but it made little difference. It was never going to be anything other than a dour struggle. We pulled and dragged all day and won our All-Ireland. These Cork lads have been there now for a number of years. They’ve got to a point where the destination is more important than the journey or the mode of transport. It’s going to be grim and grimy because Cork are more focused and more physical than any of the three counties left in the Football Championship.

Entertainment? I would love to think Cork will throw off the shackles for this All-Ireland semi-final with Dublin, but I can’t see that happening.

Last September scarred them badly and I think the main reason they’ve adopted a game plan which is about dropping back, smothering the opposition.

I would love to see a Cork team score 4-12 someday. Last season, at this juncture, Cork were the most exciting team left in the Championship, but they came up short. That’s the nub of it.

Now they are more calculating, clinical. Sometimes the style of football they play ... I don’t have much hair left on my head, but they’ll get rid of the last few ribs. It’s not attractive to watch and Pat Spillane is going to have a field day from here to September.

Cork will win tomorrow because they’ll wear their opposition down. We’re not going to have a pretty semi-final. And if Cork get to an All-Ireland final – and I think they will – it won’t be too attractive either.

They have set about doing their business in a particular fashion that suits them, they’ll keep scores down, they’ll wear down opposition, they’ll frustrate opposition. At times they’ll frustrate their own supporters too, but ultimately for Cork, this year is about getting over the line.

This system was firmed up after being beaten by Kerry. They played good football but came up short. Now things are different.

It was all brought home to me in the final, irrelevant moments of the quarter-final against Roscommon. Cork were awarded a penalty, affording Donncha O’Connor the opportunity to test himself at Croke Park from 11 metres out.

Instead he tapped it over the bar because 1) Cork didn’t want future opposition gaining an unnecessary insight or 2) the winning-comes-first mindset took over.

Never mind the quality or the margin of victory. A win’s a win.

This Cork management and panel have their mind made up: they are cold and ruthless and they will not deviate from the efficient system that suits them and, more importantly, gets them over the line. This is a mission years in the making. Conversely, Pat Gilroy’s Dublin project is really only seven months old. They threw out the old one, started afresh. But don’t get hoodwinked by what happened against Tyrone in the quarter-final. Tyrone were a beaten docket.

They may be the masters of Ulster again next season, but they have put up the white flag in Croke Park in a big way. I wasn’t one bit surprised they succumbed to Dublin. Mickey Harte has taken too many fellas to the well too often. They were great men but I think Croke Park is a step beyond them at this stage and they showed that in last year’s semi-final against Cork.

Again this August, against a young, eager, intense Dublin team, it was all too much. But Cork aren’t Tyrone.

Yes, Gilroy has turned things around in a very short time. He inherited a fair crowd of posers, guys happy with the idea of strutting around in a blue Arnotts jersey. Now he has a group of players who have ambitions to win something, but they’re a bit away from that yet. They have some marvellous footballers and crucially four or five different elements in Cian O’Sullivan, Michael Dara McAuley and Eoghan O’Gara, but the other side of that coin is the lack of experience.

Oh, and their gaping holes in the full back line.

If you look at Cork objectively, and the style of their game, you might say they’ve gone backwards in the last year, but now they don’t concede scores and don’t seem to care after that.

Ciarán Sheehan is the one forward Cork have who is exciting. He’s showing for ball, turning, taking his marker on. Question marks remain over some of his attacking colleagues, but experience, painful experience, is more of a help than a hindrance now. Paddy Kelly will drift back carrying a lot of ball but Paul Kerrigan must not. The Nemo man has not reached his potential, partly because of the dearth of service. Cork didn’t play him enough when he was hot in Killarney. He’s one fella who has searing pace and can score on the run, but he’s got to look at Sheehan and take on his marker more. When he’s at half forward, he’s coming from too deep. That’s why he’s better suited to the corner – but Cork have to ensure the game does not bypass him.

Graham Canty would be a big loss but not of the Larry Tompkins scale. Tompkins was the best footballer in the country by a country mile in our time and he was expected to contribute six or seven points a game if we were to win. Canty is part of a defence that smothers as a group.

I’ve heard that Cork may pick on the basis of man for man combat and that worries me. Michael Shields has shown he’s more suited to the half back line but he’ll probably pick up Bernard Brogan. In the heights stakes, he’s caught for inches to operate in the full back line. Had you a fit Johnny Miskella, who has done a good job on Declan O’Sullivan, no less, in the past, he would be a preferable choice for Bernard Brogan.

Nicholas Murphy has to start, not come on. Against Dublin, momentum is key. Give them some and they prosper.

They’ll be nervous. This is, for most of Pat Gilroy’s side, a first All-Ireland semi-final. Cork have worn their teeth on All-Ireland semi-finals at this stage.

I’m not alone in saying that Cork should be playing with a little more self belief, dare I even say arrogance. I hear that every day on the streets. In the quarter final, they played the ball back to the goalie on four or five occasions. They’ve even got rid of that in soccer. But it’s not entertainment, it’s winning football.

They used the qualifiers to road test this system and they’re now back at their House of Pain. It’s good stuff to have in the tank. I don’t believe you can build a team in seven months to win an All-Ireland.

With that little in the tank, you eventually come up short.

Dublin will tomorrow.