Lynch: Bit-part role didn’t take from joy

VETERAN Cork defender Anthony Lynch insists Sunday’s All-Ireland victory is not diminished for him by the fact he was ruled out of contention by injury.

Lynch has been a permanent fixture in the Cork defence over the last decade but was sidelined for the entire 2010 season with a groin problem and suffered a recurrence in the build-up to Sunday’s decider.

He said: “It has been a difficult year for me personally because of injury but everything has changed now.

“With this group of players it is all about the team, and the team is the biggest thing for us.

“We have had a lot of disappointment down through the years, but when the whistle went I was in no way disappointed (that I did not get to play).”

Lynch, who was speaking on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, revealed that the motivation to avoid a repeat of the devastation of past final defeats spurred Cork on.

“We know how the Down players and James McCartan feel. We have gone through that and there is nothing you can say to the Down team to make them feel better.

“We had a meeting on Saturday night and we decided we did not want to feel that hurt again. It would have been very hard to come back if we lost the All-Ireland. It was very important for this team to win an All-Ireland. Now that we have won it’s a very special feeling.”

Meanwhile long-serving midfielder Nicholas Murphy had no qualms about filling an impact sub role throughout this year’s championship.

Injury restricted Murphy’s involvement earlier this season and he was unable to break the starting midfield partnership of Alan O’Connor and Aidan Walsh.

But the Carrigaline player still made a critical contribution throughout the season by producing a series of influential midfield performances when brought in off the bench.

“Every fella wants to be playing and every fella wants to be starting. But whatever role you can play is great. I was glad to fulfil that role but in fairness to the two lads that were there, they were playing well all year.

“Aidan’s had a fine year and has a great future. Best of luck to him. I was out for two months with injury but thankfully it came right.

“I had 35 or 40 minutes on Sunday. Whatever time you get you just have to leave it out there so there is no coming back and saying what if.

“All through the year no matter who came on they made an impact. On Sunday we just kept going, every fella who was on from the start gave it their all. We just finished off the job.”

Murphy admitted it was special for him personally to finally claim honours.

“Cork have been waiting a long time. For me it has been 10 years so it was great to finally win it. We got so close a few times but the lads finally delivered.

“This time last year there was no guarantees we would be back here. It is a long road and we certainly took the long route. But thankfully we got there.”