Why Cork must walk easy when the jug is full

THE similarities are too obvious to ignore. In 1990 Cork went into a campaign desperate for one particular rival.

We had won the 1989 All-Ireland, somewhat luckily if truth be told, against Mayo. But it was Meath we wanted. Needed.

The 89 triumph had lifted a weight off our shoulders. I might have been the only one, but I had a strong sense in the spring of 1990 that Cork would not be stopped, even if Sean Boylan’s side came calling.

It’s good copy now to say that Meath and ourselves hated each other, but from this remove it’s more accurate to say we had a desperate need to prove to ourselves we could beat them.

The celebrations from 1989 were never going to be raucous enough to dilute our ambition for the following season, and with Conor Counihan at the helm, I don’t expect any Cork players will have their eye off the ball this season either.

However there is one key difference — Cork cannot be as obsessed with Kerry in 2011 as we were with Meath in 1990. It’s a hoary cliche to suggest you only play what’s in front of you, but it’s no less accurate for that.

The formbook would suggest Cork will travel to Killarney for the Munster final, and it will be more meaningful than some recent encounters. Ultimately they’ll both travel their own road after that and should, in all probability, rendevouz in September.

Of course, beating Kerry at Croke Park will incentivise the campaign for a share of Cork players but it can’t become all-consuming. The indicators in that regard are positive for Cork. Three League titles in-a-row — the first a Division Two — followed by last September’s All-Ireland win does not give the sense of a squad or management believing their own publicity. That is crucial. Every time a Cork footballer picks up the paper these days, they’re being hailed as the sure things for September. It won’t be something they’ve experienced before, and that is why having Conor Counihan at the helm is beneficial. He will walk easy when the jug is full, and focus on Clare before Waterford or anything after that.

He will do well to remember too what kind of a reputation his own Cork side had going into the 1989 season. In many respects we were damaged goods, scarred by the losses in 1987 and 88. That’s not a bad emotion to keep. Playing with a little bit of fear can be helpful. Winning last September against Down, impressively or otherwise, was a liberating experience for this group of Cork players, but they won’t forget what it took to get them there.