JBM will hit ground running, insists keeper Cusack

DONAL ÓG CUSACK has no doubt Jimmy Barry-Murphy will have few difficulties in getting back up to speed in his second coming as Cork senior hurling manager.

“Jimmy is an astute guy,” said the Cork goalkeeper. “He always has a keen interest in sport. I remember speaking to Kieran McGeeney about it a couple of years ago that, if you do leave, things move on so quickly.

“But Jimmy has always been interested. He’s a sportsman by nature and I don’t see him having any problems.

“He did his time and he was successful. He did the brave thing in coming back again. It would have been easy for him to waltz off into the sunset and say, ‘I was a winner in my time as a player and as a manager’ but I think it’s an illustration of his passion for the game and his passion for Cork that he decided to come back and contribute.”

It was Barry-Murphy who drafted the young Cloyne custodian onto the county panel in 1996 and Cusack was overjoyed to see his old mentor return, even before his new boss named him as captain for the 2012 campaign.

Similarities have already been drawn between the Cork team now and the one Barry-Murphy inherited in 1995 in that it was a squad coming off a handful of seasons where results were far from the level desired or expected.

If anything, Cork’s health now is of greater concern.

Cusack, Seán Óg Ó hAilpín and Joe Deane were on a panel that won a minor All-Ireland in 1995 and two U21s in 97 and 98 fed into a senior equivalent in 99.

Underage national titles are thin on the ground on Leeside these days and, though the return to the squad of Ó hAilpín has been welcomed, it is clear the Rebel county has far from completed its transitional phase.

“Everybody knows that Kilkenny and Tipperary are ahead of the pack and we’re under no illusions as to where we stand,” said Cusack.

“Over the last couple of years, all you have to do is look at the three All-Ireland finals and how they’ve taken their game onto a new level. Kilkenny have dominated over a long period of time.

“Tipperary have got up to that level now and I think the challenge is for everybody else to reach those levels.”