Unlikely hero may emerge in decider
But that’s not to say shackling either of them is the key to victory for their opponents, says Larry Tompkins.
“Getting to a county final is a team effort, obviously, it’s the culmination of a lot of different things and not just the efforts of one or two players.
“Stopping individual players isn’t as easy as it sounds. It sounds simple — ‘we’ll just stop this fella and we’ll win’ but that doesn’t always work.
“Everyone knew before the All-Ireland final this year that Donegal would rely on Michael Murphy and Colm McFadden for a lot of their scores, but it wasn’t that easy to stop them.”
New Cork football selector Brian Cuthbert, wearing his Bishopstown football manager’s hat, agrees.
“I think it’s probably a tiny bit simplistic to think it’s all about those two players.
“In Duhallow’s first game against Douglas, for instance, they had Donncha out in midfield for most of the game. If they play him out around midfield and manage a draw, and then won the replay while playing him on the half-forward line, then they’re not playing him that close to goal.
“Now he’s still doing most of the damage for Duhallow, so the answer to the question is that containing him will hurt the team’s chances, but if they can play him midfield then they obviously have other guys doing the scoring.
“He’s the main architect out there — and at wing-forward — even if he’s not doing a huge amount of scoring.”
As a Castlehaven icon, Tompkins is more familiar with his own club men, but he’s well aware of O’Connor’s talent.
“Castlehaven have a lot of potential up front. People have been focusing on Brian, obviously, but they also have Seanie Cahalane and Stephen Hurley, Brian’s younger brother — he was a big loss to the team last year.
“Brian’s developing and maturing all the time, he’s still a young lad but he’s definitely more mature this year than he was last year. He’s a brilliant talent — he can lose a man in a tight space and he kicks with ease off left and right, which not many players can do.
“Donncha’s probably at the other end of the scale in that he broke through to the inter-county scene a little later, but that means he has that maturity already.
“He’s been playing out the field alright for Duhallow, but that’d be nothing new to him. With Cork, people probably associate him with being in the inside line, but he’s well used to ranging out to the half-forward line and beyond.
“With his experience he can make it count, too. You can find plenty of fellas who’ll circulate around the forward positions, giving and taking the ball, handpassing around, but the real test is whether a fella can then take a pass and put the ball over from 40 yards.
“In the game against Skibbereen Donncha got two points in the second half which were absolute killers for Skibb: they were working hard to get scores at one end and then Donncha pops up with a couple from 40, 45 yards out.”
Cuthbert reminds us a county final often throws up an unexpected hero.
“It’d be easy to say to shut Hurley down and Castlehaven will struggle, but that doesn’t stack up, necessarily. He’s been very good for them but when they played the Barr’s he was picked up by Michael Shields, who did a very good job on him — but they were still able to win.
“What often happens is the fella nobody knows anything about can perform above himself and come through. Given the pressure and the occasion, if a forward can manage two or three points from play in a county final, that’s a huge amount.
“Obviously there are marquee names, but I think both teams have players who mightn’t be as well known but who could cause serious damage. They could be the ones to watch.”
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