Gardiner feels harshly treated

John Gardiner believes he was harshly treated by All-Ireland final Cork boss Jimmy Barry-Murphy, suggesting his axing was linked to his reputation as a central figure in the last strike crisis.

The two-time All-Ireland medallist has been a regular at Cork games all year and will attend Sunday’s final at Croke Park. But he believes he could still be playing a significant role and that Barry-Murphy’s decision last winter to drop him was premature.

Gardiner, 30, said that after the decision was explained to him, he ‘‘came away as wise from the conversation’’ and was frustrated to be pushed out instead of afforded the opportunity to quit himself after 11 seasons.

Asked if he privately believed his key role in the winter strike of 2008/2009, which eventually forced the removal of Gerald McCarthy as manager, was behind Barry-Murphy’s decision, he agreed.

“Probably, I’d say so,” said Gardiner. “We were the front runners in the whole thing even though the panel was unanimous and agreed all the time. We were seen as the front runners. I happened to be captain of the team when all that stuff was going on so my name is probably out there a lot more than other guys because of that.

“Look, I asked him the question, straight up, ‘Was there anything in it?’ and he said there wasn’t. He said it wasn’t anything like that and that’s the way it was.”

Gardiner’s suspicion doesn’t tally with the fact that Barry-Murphy made Donal Óg Cusack his team captain in 2012 — though he later axed him too — and brought Sean Óg Ó hAilpín out of retirement. Both of those players were also central to the strike of four years ago.

What Gardiner believes to be certain is that Barry-Murphy is a ruthless figure despite his mild-mannered public persona.

“Yeah, I’d say so, the way he operates like,” continued Gardiner. “He’s a nice guy, comes across as a nice guy but when he wants to make a decision, he just makes the decision.”

Gardiner was a key part of a Cork half-back line rated as one of the greatest they have ever produced when they won All-Ireland titles in 2004 and 2005. But, inevitably, supporters will come down on Barry-Murphy’s side on the issue of team personnel after defying the odds to lead the Rebels to Sunday’s final.

“Exactly, they’re in the final, there’s nobody in Cork complaining,” said Gardiner. “You get people coming up to you every single day saying, ‘You should still be involved’. But look, they’re the guys that are in the All-Ireland final, they’ve done a great job.”

As for himself, he said he felt hard done by.

“Maybe a little bit hard done by,” he continued. “We have given our life to the thing really since I broke onto the panel at 19, given our life to the thing for 10 years or 11 seasons. I would have liked if it was my own decision. It just didn’t work out that way.