Character-building journey to glory

GREG NORMAN once said “the failure is what makes succeeding so sweet.”

And he should know having lost majors, including the heartbreaking manner of the 1987 US Masters defeat. He did win two British Opens and appreciated the success of these all the more as a result of his failures.

This Cork team knows all about failure but now they also know the massive satisfaction that accompanies winning an All-Ireland. They have climbed to the foothills of their Everest several times in recent years but on each occasion they were swept from the summit by a green and gold avalanche. They have known that indescribable hurt of losing on gaelic football’s greatest day. They were especially hurt by last year’s defeat. This time as they made off for the summit it was Down’s sherpas that attempted to derail them early in the game.