Now is the time for new guys to stake claim, says McCarthy

The Cork senior footballer’s McGrath Cup opener against Cork IT this Sunday is a first competitive outing for the new senior management, but evolution rather than revolution appears to be the theme.

With manager Conor Counihan having agreed to stay on for a new term, he has freshened up his backroom team, with Ronan McCarthy, Brian Cuthbert and Haulie O’Neill replacing Jim Nolan, Ger O’Sullivan and Terry O’Neill while Peadar Healy is the only selector to remain in place.

Former Douglas manager McCarthy, who won a Munster medal with Cork in 1999, revealed that “things have gone nicely so far.

“There is a big advantage in that we are coming in as new selectors under an existing manager who has been there for five years,” he explained.

“There is an established routine and we have that as a framework. I think that was the basis on which we came in, trying to make small improvements on something that is already working well.”

While the changes to the rule governing the ban on winter training have allowed Cork greater breathing space than usual, preparation time for Sunday’s game at the CIT Sports Stadium has still been truncated.

“We have been back since December 8,” McCarthy revealed, “but obviously there has been a break for Christmas. We trained last night and on Wednesday night too but with a game on Sunday you don’t want to overdo things.

“From a player-resource point of view we’re caught in that we have a few lads away travelling and there are some injured and then some of our guys are playing with their colleges.”

But McCarthy insisted that those unavailable to the county side will be monitored during the McGrath Cup. “There are about nine or 10 players in the mix with us who will be involved with UCC or CIT. Of the CIT team on Sunday, there’ll be three or four players that we will be looking at with a view to giving them a chance at some stage, if possible. We’ll have a core of established players and then some who have been on the fringes for the last year or two. As well you’ll have one or two newer guys who are being introduced to the set-up and being given an opportunity.”