O’Connor leading the way

A summer of stepping up to the mark.

He may have had an All-Ireland senior medal warm in his pocket from the previous September but as he approached the 2011 season, Alan O’Connor felt the need to improve. Take control of midfield sectors around the country. Assume a leadership role in the Cork team. The stalwarts that he had looked up to when serving his apprenticeship couldn’t be expected to provide inspiration forever.

He got to work last summer. In Killarney it was the St Colum’s man more than anyone who spearheaded Cork’s second-half revival in the Munster final, dominating the skies and charging towards the Kerry rearguard. When they took to the backdoor route and matched up against Down in Croke Park, O’Connor was excellent once more as Cork dismantled their opponents.

In these pages after that game, current Kerry U21 boss Eamonn Fitzmaurice described O’Connor as the most improved player in the Cork squad. Their season may have concluded in a sombre fashion against Mayo in an All-Ireland quarter-final but it was still a campaign where O’Connor’s form graph travelled in an upward curve.

Brendan Moran’s iconic picture for Sportsfile of O’Connor during the Down game, encapsulates his rising improvement as he strives to lead.

“Inside in the dressing room and on the pitch I have to be leading more,” admitted O’Connor. “The likes of Nicholas Murphy and Derek Kavanagh can’t be doing that now. Coming into the panel first there was one of the best midfielders in the country in Nicholas Murphy and I wouldn’t have been disheartened when he was playing ahead of me. But as things go on you set higher goals every season. Last year down in Kerry I threw the shackles off as we had to go for it. It’s up to me to keep that going.”

He’s back renewing acquaintances with Kerry tomorrow in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

The stadium may be more than 50 miles from home in Kealkil but O’Connor still feels it is good to be back on familiar territory after punishing treks up the west coast to Ballybofey and to the midlands in Portlaoise in recent weeks.

The commutes from his West Cork base do not perturb him. Ever since the O’Connor family relocated from Lucan when Alan was 12 to the village just outside Bantry, he has immersed himself in the local football scene. Travelling has always been a part of it as he moved up the ranks with Cork.

His nine to five is no different when it comes to being on the road. O’Connor is an electrician with John McCarthy from Bantry and 11 months after he spoke to Ryan Tubridy on the Late Late Show along with teammates Michael Shields and Donncha O’Connor about their difficulties in securing work, he is glad to be back employed.

“I’m back with the same employer now. I was on only three days a week but I’m back full-time. We’re based in West Cork but we do a lot of work around Cork city as well. We’re busy at the moment which is good.”

Last Saturday night was also good, an emphatic victory over Laois to banish the memories of their failure to raise a flag in the last half-hour against Donegal the previous Sunday.

Cork shuffled their cards beforehand in O’Moore Park and drew an ace in the ploy of shunting Aidan Walsh into full-forward.

In an era of blanket defences and intricate systems, Cork have resisted the temptations and stuck rigidly to a 15 on 15 game.

O’Connor said of the switch: “Aidan is only coming back having been away from Australia, so it was a way to help him work on his fitness last Saturday night. It’s just a tactic to try out for the moment.

“He’s a great man to catch a high ball and it worked Saturday night. Even the breaks that came off him, we got a good few chances.”

He added: “With that though, some days those won’t go your way.”

Tomorrow Cork will try Walsh at the edge of the square again. Out the field his team-mate will be trying to step up to the mark once more.