Counihan unperturbed by Croke Park’s blue hue

Conor Counihan has dismissed the influence of the Dublin crowd in Croke Park next Saturday.

Critical of the 7pm throw-in time and the impact it will have on those county supporters travelling to the capital, the Cork manager knows the stadium won’t exactly be hospitable to his team.

However, he was unequivocal in his belief that the tens of thousands of Dublin fans won’t hurt his team’s opportunities. “There won’t be any of them inside the white line and I’m not trying to be funny,” he pointed out.

Counihan said Cork will take plenty from their previous wins over Dublin in Croke Park, the 2010 All-Ireland semi-final and 2011 Division 1 final, which were also played out in front of significant blue-hued crowds.

“We’ve had to go there before and do that. Everybody has to do that. If you’re worried about what’s happening outside the white line, you may as well stay at home.

“At this level, you’ve got to be able to shut out what’s going on around you. If you don’t, you’re in trouble. If you’re thinking about crowds, you’re at nothing.”

At the same time, Counihan acknowledged the evening throw-in is a prohibitive one for the team’s following.

“From the supporters points of view, you have the expense of going to Dublin and the practical issues for families. It’s not the most attractive, particularly two weeks on the trot and if you throw in the hurling as well, you would want a fairly good bank account to keep that going.”

Counihan reported Cork are injury-free bar Colm O’Neill’s long-term injury going into Saturday’s game. For the win over Galway, he broke habit and started the team that was named earlier in the week. He defended the practice of dummy teams but also pointed out it hasn’t always been done with method.

“There were situations where the team that was named wasn’t the team that took the field. That mightn’t always be the case of being deliberate.

“If you went out last weekend and looked at how many teams went out in terms of named teams, there was quite a lot different. Some of the ideas in terms of releasing teams and guys doubtful in terms of injuries, you just can’t do it.”

Counihan believes supporters actually enjoy trying to second guess what way teams are going to line out and the potential match-ups.

“I would say most of the time that there were issues around players but sometimes you wouldn’t tell an opposition that you were going to play a fella 5ft4in against a fella 6’6”. You just wouldn’t do it. I don’t see what the big issue is.”