Cuthbert says team will soon take shape

ALLIANZ FL DIVISION 1:

But had they beaten Mayo by four you suspect Brian Cuthbert would have been just as wielding with his axe.

That’s been his form over the previous five games, starting more players than any other county across the top two divisions with goalkeeper David Hanrahan becoming the 28th in the panel to get a bow tomorrow.

As much as they head the table, there are some unwelcome side effects. There was a loss of composure for bouts of the last two games. For the Mayo game, there were eight changes to the side that beat Derry. For the Derry game, there were four to the side that beat Dublin.

The concession of four goals in Castlebar was the first time since before Conor Counihan’s time Cork have let in so much in a game. Throw in the three they coughed up to Derry, add on the one against Kildare and that total of eight is four times as much as the county were hit for in nine league games in 2012.

The trial and error method will soon come to an end though, Cuthbert says.

“The way the thing works, you have to take the games in blocks. Three games came together — Dublin, Derry and Mayo — and that was one phase. Now we’ve moved onto the Tyrone and Kerry games coming together. Training just mirrors what’s in front of us. Everything is cyclical in terms of the way the training works out. You see these fixtures before Christmas and it’s all part of the plan.

“The team will soon settle down in terms of taking shape, we have made huge changes from game to game and there are huge changes to the team for Tyrone from the one that played Mayo. But it’s come to a stage now where the team will shortly settle down and players will be given tasks of going into certain positions.”

Should Cork fail to reach the semi-finals, their break to their Munster semi-final clash against Tipperary or Waterford in June will be a considerable 11 weeks. A knock-out spot will only cut it by one but at least it would provide him with a chance to field a team closer to what he believes is his strongest side.

“I would like to think for our team anyway that it’s important in lots of way to get another competitive game after we finish the Kerry game,” Cuthbert states. “For us we’re in a position where we’ve played five games and won four. We’ve two to go and I’d like to think we’re not going to finish on eight points. If we do finish on eight points it would actually be disappointing considering the start we had.

“But at the same time there’s a complete realisation we have two very tough games to come. I think the more competitive games the better it will be for us and the more of them we win it will be even better.

“It won’t define our season but from where we are right now I think it’s very important we get to a semi-final.”

Excellent springs have been followed by not so outstanding summers for Cork but their 2010 Division 1 success was followed up in September while Dublin also did the double last year.

The prospect of facing Tyrone coming to town tomorrow appeals to Cuthbert in that he knows they won’t want another long trip to Munster to be as painful as their 15-point defeat in Killarney earlier this month.

“A lot of our older guys would have played against Tyrone a few times and some of the younger guys would have played them at underage level. Tyrone are a very good team and have a superb management team. Their league form has been good in patches and not so good in others and after the Kerry game they gave Westmeath a fair enough beating.

“I think the Kerry game they’d like to think was a watershed certainly in the second half. Certainly, I think they’ll be coming to Cork gung-ho determined it won’t happen again. We’re well aware we’ve a huge job on our hands to gather those two points but, at the same time, we’re at home again in Páirc Uí Rinn and the couple of games we’ve had there have gone very, very well.

“I think Cork is a tough place for anybody to come and we won’t be holding anything back trying to win those points. When two teams go like that it’s going to be a good game. Cork-Tyrone games are always exciting.”