Hurley gets most from Red revival

Inside the revolving door that has been the Cork team, this spring stands just one man.

In making his first league start of the year tomorrow, Damien Cahalane will be the 30th player to begin a game under Brian Cuthbert in this Division 1 campaign.

However Brian Hurley has been there for each and every one of the six games. He’s named to start again the seventh in Tralee and his omnipresence in the inside forward line going back to the opener against Westmeath has become a source of amusement in the camp.

“The boys are saying it’s because I’m the unfittest,” he laughs. “I say it’s the other way around! There’s a good bit of slagging about it.”

Hurley is a Liverpool supporter too, sharing the same passion as his manager, but there’s no room for any sort of kindred spirit sentiment. If it was the case, Paul Kerrigan and Alan Cronin, fellow Reds, would be seeing as much game-time as Hurley. Besides, Conor Counihan was of the same ilk before Cuthbert.

Tomorrow’s clash with Kerry clashes with Liverpool’s trip to West Ham but as much as both his favourite teams are heading the pack right now, his priorities are clear.

“We want to finish top and to do it with a performance in a big game in Tralee, away from our backyard, would be great. I expected we would go well in the league because everyone was buying into what the management were putting in front of us.

“We’ve had a couple of bumps, it hasn’t all been positive but we’re pleased with most of what we have been doing. Some players have had to change their games but I think it’s working.”

After a 2013 season that saw him almost win an All-Ireland U21, impress in his first senior championship and win a second successive senior county title with Castlehaven, Hurley feared he was close to burnout.

But he is most certain he needed a run of games. His performances have got better each game.

“I’d a long year last year and your mind would play with you and you’d be thinking you’ve played too much. But I got refreshed, went back hard at it then and after that, your skill level rises again. There’s more ball training the last few weeks and I feel I’m improving with every game.”

The stats would almost bear that out. His scoring records from Westmeath in the first weekend of February to Tyrone last weekend reads: 0-1, 0-2, 0-1, 0-3, 1-5, 0-5.

Although, he admits the forward line could be doing more to help out the backs. The sudden bursts of scores conceded against Derry, Mayo and Tyrone have been a concern, if only a slight one.

“We’ve noticed that the backs are great for supporting forwards but maybe it’s us who should be doing more to support the backs. I wouldn’t be too worried about it, though. The league is all about trying out things.”

Cuthbert has done exactly that and the game-time seen by the U21s, some of them who won an All-Ireland last year with Hurley, in the senior team has been managed well by both groups.

As Seán Hayes’s side prepares for a second successive Munster final with Tipperary on Wednesday, harmony is essential.

“There has been good communication between the two camps and it’s good to see lads playing so well for us and going to the U21s and seeing themselves as leaders. Brian has said if anyone is up to the mark, they’ll be given a chance, and he’s done that.”

The cushion of having already qualified for next weekend’s semi-finals has provided wiggle room for Cork to experiment again, with Patrick Kelly making an intriguing switch to the half- backs. Hurley appreciates it will soon be about training to sort the starting team members from the panellists.

“The competition is unreal. It might come down now to training matches and stuff like that to see who gets the spots. That means it’ll suit those who are training hard, which is the only way. But I don’t think everything revolves around who’s starting but the 21 or 22 players who can be involved. Everyone has to be switched on.”