‘The rivalry and hatred there just fuels you’

They grasped silverware again in April yet the applause did not come tumbling down from the stands to greet Cork’s third successive league title.

Great hordes of Rebel support were absent but the football squad have grown accustomed to it. In Patrick Kelly’s mind, it is the search for trophies rather than acclaim that fuels their drive.

“The traditional fan base is for the hurlers and that’s always been the case. We make a joke about it more than anything. When the hurlers do well, we’d be saying that’s another few we’ve lost to them or taking the piss out of ourselves when you’ve very few at some away league games. We play league matches in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in front 1,000 or 2,000 people and it’s dead. Páirc Uí Chaoimh looks awful when it’s empty. I know there’s things with health and safety for grounds but if you could bring one league game a year down to West Cork and one up to Mallow, I imagine that’d generate huge interest. But ultimately you don’t play to get crowds supporting you, you’re playing to win.”

That sense of single-mindedness is also the approach taken when any barbs are thrown in their direction about the methodical short-passing that has characterised their style of play.

“When you’re on an inter-county panel, you’re a very close-knit group and you live in a bubble,” argues Kelly. “Everyone has their opinion but you value very few outside the squad. We all listen to our own few people in our clubs but that’s it. Pundits wouldn’t really bother us. You see (Joe) Brolly having a cut off Kerry in the Tipperary game and that was an example of a very knee-jerk, over-the-top reaction. Their mindset going into that game was to just get over the line and they did that. If you really look at the games, we’re not hand-passing by choice. There’s reasons for it with defensive systems nowadays.”

Probing for gaps in defences is Kelly’s prime role on the pitch but for a three-week spell last October and November he got a chance to rub shoulders with opponents from around the country on Ireland’s International Rules Tour to Australia. The prolonged schedule of the Kerry county championship rendered Darran O’Sullivan unavailable and Kelly popped up as a replacement.

“I got a call on a Wednesday morning last October saying could I fly out on the Friday. I’d arranged with my principal in Cloghroe where I teach that if I got called that I could fly out. You’re entitled as long as you work the time back. It’s great craic training with lads from other counties. There’s this thing in your head that you despise them when you’re playing against them so it’s good to get to know them.

“It was a great way to make it so late but obviously Darran (O’Sullivan) wouldn’t say the same. Hopefully he’ll get a chance at some stage down the road. It was a superb trip. We’d a lot of free time, I met up with lads from home out in St Kilda and Liam O’Toole, a clubmate from Ballincollig, a few times as well watching the Rugby World Cup final in a pub. We’d a few free days in the Gold Coast playing golf and going to theme parks. There was great lads on the panel. I was rooming with Brendan Murphy from Carlow, to see him and Leighton Glynn from Wicklow you realise how good they are even if they don’t get huge exposure.”

Reality hit home upon his return when the winter grind of preparing for 2012 began. Kelly has seen former teammates like John Miskella, Derek Kavanagh and Anthony Lynch reach the end of the playing road due to ruinous injuries. The professionalism of the current Cork training setup takes that into account.

“Our trainers Aidan O’Connell and PJ Wilson are constantly thinking of the long-term picture. PJ is new this year. He’s Aidan’s understudy with the Munster rugby academy teams. Aidan is away with Munster sometimes so it’s great to have PJ there because they take a lot of our physical sessions and do a lot of work with lads who are injured, getting them to do weights on the sideline.

“They help us to have a really good balance in our training. We don’t do crazy training. It’s hard but there’s a huge emphasis on recovery and flexibility. Miskella, Derek and Lynchy were really going through the pain barrier over the last few years. They kept going because they felt there was an All-Ireland in the team and it was nice they got their reward in 2010.”

If 2010 was a joyous experience, 2011 was different. When he thinks back, Kelly realises they never got to the appropriate pitch of performance. A video session recently revealed a litany of ball-playing errors committed by Cork in the first half of last summer’s Munster final in Killarney. This season they began without the distraction of touring the celebration circuit, thus permitting them to work early on enhancing their fitness and sharpening their football. To the wider football fraternity there may be a sense of lethargy about the frequency of Cork and Kerry clashes but that bite is still there for the players.

“You don’t ever get sick of the games against Kerry,” argues Kelly. “I only came into the panel in 2008 when I was 23 and didn’t start until the following year. So I’d appreciate that I don’t have a long time left at it and I don’t think I’ll tire of it.

“The rivalry and hatred there just fuels you. I’m sure it’s the same for Kerry coming up to Cork. Both teams can never beat each other by enough and that’d be the mindset of the supporters. The fact that we’re both very strong at present and All-Ireland contenders adds to that.”

And he’s fully aware of the other sporting item in the spotlight this weekend. In the Cork dressing room this week they have been discussing the virtues of Spain and Germany, debating who will be awarded the top-scorer garland and awaiting Ireland’s return to big time international football for the first time in a decade.

“I remember in 2002 stopping in my uncle’s in Rathmore to watch the Ireland-Spain game in the World Cup and then going onto Killarney for the Cork Kerry match. It ended in a draw and the atmosphere wasn’t great after the soccer and with the poor weather.

“But you’d be hoping there’ll be a buzz about the place on Sunday for our game. It’s great there’s no clash with the Cork-Kerry match as supporters would probably take any excuse to stay away. Hopefully they’ll come down to watch the football and then head off to the soccer around the city.”