O’Neill believes Rebels will look within
Counihan stepped down after six years in charge following the All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Dublin at the start of August and O’Neill expects the Aghada man’s replacement to come from within the county boundaries.
“It [an outside manager] is probably something which would never happen,” he said at the launch of AIB’s new Self-Service Banking Area on Winthrop Street in Cork.
“A county the size of Cork, they’d probably think that there are enough good men inside the county to lead us. Maybe smaller counties don’t have the numbers or have enough former players wanting to do the job, but I can’t see Cork going outside the county.”
O’Neill also feels that the sooner an appointment is made, the better it would be for preparations for 2014.
“They’ll probably wait until after the All-Ireland hurling final, but you wouldn’t want to be leaving it too late either,” he said.
“There’s a hell of a lot of organising involved, getting selectors and appointing a backroom team and getting a plan in place. The months are slipping by and it’ll be September, October before you know it.
“It’s definitely a full-time job, there is an awful lot of effort goes into it. To be fair to the new manager, you’d want to give him enough time to organise things right.”
He never expected Counihan to leave his role one year into a two-year term.
“It definitely was a surprise,” he admitted.
“He had a two-year tenure and was only one year into that, but I suppose he felt that it was time for a fresh voice and a new face. I’d just like to take the opportunity to thank him for all that he did, he has left Cork football in a good place.”
Unfortunately for O’Neill and Counihan, the attacker twice suffered cruciate ligament injuries during the manager’s time in charge, the most recent ruling him out for the entire 2013 championship.
While disappointed not to have been able to help Cork, O’Neill is satisfied with how the recovery is going.
“I’m five or six months post-operation now, and I’m starting to make progress,” he said.
“I’m doing a small bit of straight-line jogging, it’s a bit funny jogging on it at the minute but I’m trying to strengthen it up. I’d be hoping to be back by the latter stages of the league.”
Given that this is the third time he has suffered the injury, O’Neill is aware of the pitfalls to be avoided.
“I know the procedures very well and I know where I should be at each stage,” he said.
“The first two times, I was six or seven months, this time I’m going to take the 10 or 11 months and give it enough time, there’s no point in killing yourself to be back for January. [Physio] Colin Lane and myself have laid down a plan and hopefully things will follow that.”
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