Cuthbert: Cork in ‘dangerous’ situation

Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

Brian Cuthbert understands full well the “dangerous” position his Cork outfit find themselves in ahead of this weekend’s championship opener against Tipperary.

Achieve victory and not an eyelash will be batted. Lose and the knives will swiftly emerge from the long grass.

It’s been 11-years since Cork last perished in the Munster championship to a team not donning the green and gold and Cuthbert laughs at the premature talk of a Cork v Kerry provincial final on July 6.

“Oh absolutely, that is a reality. I have heard people talking about that game,” he said.

“We are on very dangerous ground. Sport is sport. Laois went up to Croke Park on Sunday week last and for 50 minutes were in control of a game they weren’t supposed to be in against Dublin.”

Victory, as you’d expect, is Cork’s sole objective on Saturday night. The Rebel manager, however, is praying for a dogfight, a tight unattractive scrap where his side are forced to exhaust every avenue of energy and effort in securing their place in the final.

“We will be expected to win and yet I get the impression we have nothing to win. Everyone says we are going to win and that is very dangerous ground going into a game. That puts huge pressure on the management to get the mental preparation right that there is nobody thinking this is going to be a soft touch.

“A lot of me wants this game to be as tough a game as possible. Tipperary are going to be hugely motivated — firstly because it is a Munster semi-final, second of all because a lot of these lads have had underage success against Cork and thirdly they are very disappointed with the seeded draw.

“Our preparations have gone very well since we regrouped following the club action. It has been a mini pre-season all over again. We tried a lot of different things in our three challenges. I think the more opportunities we are getting to play, the clearer the team is becoming. Facing into the championship we are quite settled.”

Settled to an extent.

Cuthbert conceded the disruption to the panel caused by the dual status of Damien Cahalane, Aidan Walsh and Eoin Cadogan. “It has been a setback. If you make your bed be prepared to lie in it,” he continued.

In the wake of their league semi-final collapse to Dublin, the manager admitted the game further cemented outside perception of Cork as “nice footballers and nice to play against”.

Can we thus expect a more aggressive approach for the summer ahead?

“You can label aggression different ways in my book. Certainly I would like to think we are going to be very hungry. I would like to think we will be very focused, very controlled and at the same time we are going to be hard to play against.

“That is what I insinuated when I said ‘nice footballers’ because we are not a big team. I don’t see us going out there laying guys out and having trouble in the parade. I think we are very focused on what we want to do and how we want to play, but at the same time there is a demand in terms of your body and mind and that is the way I want them to go.”

Meanwhile former Cork boss Conor Counihan believes that the county’s dual stars may struggle to cope with both codes this summer.

Counihan said that Walsh, Cahalane and Eoin Cadogan will need high levels of mental resolve to continue serving both inter-county masters this summer.

He explained: “There’s a whole mental thing as well – how can the guy get himself up every week, as opposed to every second week if you’re playing the one? The true test will be time – time will tell all.”