Rebels with a caution
Cork’s impressive display in a narrow defeat at the hands of Tipperary in the Munster semi-final, and a home draw against this evening’s opponents, means the men in red are hot favourites but McGrath doesn’t agree.
“We’ve been hearing that kind of talk since the draw was made, that we’ll win handy, but that’s not the view we have within the camp,” he said.
“We’re taking absolutely nothing for granted in this game — someone’s season will be over by nine o’clock and we want to make sure that it isn’t us.”
Current manager Jimmy Barry-Murphy was in charge when Offaly shocked Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final of 2000 on a scoreline of 0-19 to 0-15, a game McGrath remembers very well.
“There are a few similarities there in the sense that Cork were hot favourites that time too, and we paid the price when Offaly turned that team over. Jimmy was obviously the manager, I was playing myself, but the likes of Dónal Óg Cusack and Seán Óg Ó hAilpín were involved as well, which is good for us in terms of fellas who’ve been ambushed by Offaly — and who can tell the younger fellas what to avoid.”
In that 2000 game, Cork were the reigning All-Ireland champions but fell away badly in the second half when Offaly scented blood. McGrath says Cork are determined not to have a repeat of that game, which ended Barry-Murphy’s first period as Cork hurling manager.
“It’s an ideal scenario for Offaly tonight,” said McGrath. “I’ve heard pundits all week write them off and say they haven’t a chance — who wouldn’t want that as a motivating force? Ollie Baker was a great warrior with Clare and I’ve no doubt he’s using the fact that people are writing Offaly off in their dressing room.
“Anyone in Cork complacent about the game need only think back to last year, when Offaly were also written off by practically everybody. There was only a point in it at the end and if the game had gone on another couple of minutes, Cork could’ve lost.
“You could say forewarned is forearmed, and the memory of 2000 is something that we’re keen to avoid this season. We feel the lads have made good progress and we’re keen to continue with that.”
McGrath acknowledged that a good display against Tipperary is pushing people to nominate Cork as favourites but he points out that past performances are no guarantee of future success.
“I know people are probably saying we did well against Tipperary and so on, but that won’t count for anything when the ball is thrown in tonight.
“If you look at it another way, Offaly have spent years playing against the top team in the country, Kilkenny, so it’s not like they’ll be thinking ‘Cork did well against Tipperary so they’re bound to beat us.’”
The Glen Rovers clubman also dismissed suggestions that Offaly were a one-man team, despite the scoring feats of Shane Dooley.
“Shane’s an outstanding player, he’s been one of the top forwards in the country for a few years and would hold his own in any company. But that doesn’t mean we’ll be organising everything in our defence to stop him. If we were to overdo our efforts with Shane, then you’d let in another good forward to do damage, and Offaly have plenty of those — Joe Bergin, Brendan Murphy, players like that. People may know Shane Dooley’s name but we’ll be keeping an eye on every one of the Offaly forwards.”
McGrath says training has gone well for Cork since their one-point defeat to Tipperary: “We’ve had a good response from the players since that game, disappointing as it was.
“It was very encouraging to see the way a lot of the new players responded to a Munster championship game, that was very heartening for the future, and for the present.
“We’ve prepared well and we’re ready for the game and we’ll give it a good go tonight.”
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