Counihan keeping Rebels grounded

Rated 1/100 favourites with some bookmakers to be lifting the Munster title next Sunday evening, it is hard for anybody associated with the Cork team to adopt the usual GAA tradition of talking up the opposition.

The Rebels met the Banner in a provincial quarter-final in June 2011 and beat them soundly, 1-23 to 0-11. However, for Cork manager Conor Counihan, now more than ever he needs to guard against complacency.

“A lot of people are making us favourites but the reality is the game will be won on the field, not by what you guys write,” he said.

“It will be 15 players against 15 and if we’re not up for it, we’ll be in trouble. The Munster title hasn’t lost its gloss for us, plenty of the lads who are involved don’t have Munster championship medals and we haven’t won it in three years, so we’d dearly love to.

“We’d have been aware Clare are an improving team and would have considered themselves unlucky to be beaten by Down in the qualifiers last year. Against Limerick, it was difficult to be going onto the opposition’s patch, but they got stuck into it, got a good lead, kicked ahead and even when Limerick got momentum back, Clare showed good heart and bottle to get what was a very big win.”

If any motivation was required to keep his team focused, Counihan could call upon the memories of 1997, when he was a selector as Cork lost to Clare. He prefers to look ahead, though.

“I remember a fella called Martin Daly and that’s enough!” Counihan laughed. “I wouldn’t be great on memories, maybe I try and blank things out that don’t go well. In sport, you take a lot knocks and that was a difficult one at the time but there have been a lot of knocks since. You move on and you get over them.”

Those of a Machiavellian bent might suggest Cork would actually be worse off with an emphatic win, as a long wait before the All-Ireland quarter-final might leave them rusty.

“While you might say there was a big gap from the league final to Kerry, we had time to focus on them so that was positive.

“When you’re in a situation, you can justify it any way you want. We made a decision to go the front-door route and we’re now in a position with four weeks between matches and we’re in a good place if our heads are right.”

With a full squad available, Counihan has the nice headache of who to select. He admits training sessions, rather than club form, are the main drivers informing his choices.

“Training matters, absolutely. We’ve had a few challenge matches and they’ll determine a bit too. You take a certain amount of influence in club form but you’ve to balance that.

“You could end up getting 2-3 but who were you on? You have to be realistic about that too.

“It’s been a bit disruptive and we haven’t had a full squad together at any stage before now, but we are where we are and we have everyone now.

“We’ll have three and a bit more training sessions, because Thursday night doesn’t really count. Fellas are under no illusions. The minute we beat Kerry they were told this would be a whole new ball game.”