Seán Óg: My retirement down to JBM’S changing of the guard

Former Cork hurling star Seán Óg Ó hAilpín has said he feels his retirement was down to Jimmy Barry-Murphy and his management focusing more on the future than 2013.

On Saturday night, Ó hAilpín was a studio analyst for Setanta Ireland’s coverage of Cork against Tipperary in Division 1A of the Allianz Hurling League, and before the game he was asked about the changes in the Rebels’ panel since last year.

“There was a huge transition there from the old guard, myself included,” he said.

“The management team set their stall over the winter towards starting fresh, giving new players a chance, the fellas who were on the fringes, letting them bring it on.

“I get the feeling that Cork are building, more so than this year, towards 2014 and ’15, and the fellas that have been there for the last few years, they didn’t see us playing by that stage.

“Personally, I still think that you need a blend of experience and youth, they’ve tilted more so towards youth at this stage.

“We’ll see, once players get playing then what happened over the winter gets forgotten about and the focus is on playing hurling.”

Ó hAilpín also said that, in his opinion, former goalkeeper Dónal Óg Cusack should have been retained.

“Definitely so,” the Na Piarsaigh man said.

“Maybe you’re asking the wrong person because I’ve been a great friend and team-mate of Dónal Óg over the years, definitely a fella like him would still have been needed in the Cork set-up, I felt.

“It’s not like they have too many other experienced fellas around, and the fact that he was injured last year and worked hard to get himself fit and challenge the other goalkeepers, I thought he was worth keeping for that reason.

“At the end of the day, we’re not the manager, we don’t make the calls.

“Jimmy’s in the position and he’s entrusted with doing the right thing, and if he thought it was the right thing, so be it.”

Meanwhile the hand injury sustained by Tipperary senior hurling captain Shane McGrath in the Cork game is not as serious as first feared.

McGrath suffered a blow to his left hand in the closing stages of the heavy defeat and Tipp had to finish the game with 14 men as five substitutes had already been used.

There were fears that McGrath had broken his hand, but X-rays have confirmed no broken bones though a second opinion is being sought as a precaution.