Mulcahy: U21 journey will aid Cork at senior level

Former Cork captain Pat Mulcahy believes the county will benefit at senior level from this year’s U21 campaign regardless of the result in tonight’s Munster final against Clare at Cusack Park.

Cork are seeking to stop their opponents from doing three in a row at provincial level and will look to build on the excellent semi-final display against Waterford. This year is the first since 2011 that the Rebels have had more than one game in the U21 championship and Mulcahy believes that has a direct knock-on effect.

“If you look at the Cork players that have come onto the scene in the past few years,” he said, “they have tended to be a bit older than U21, they’re 22, 23, 24.

“I think that that’s because they’re not getting the games at U21. It’s straight knockout so there is a risk that you’ll have just one game and that’ll be the year over.

“If you get on a run and get three or four high-intensity matches then you’ll develop quicker. There are some players who’ll really benefit and become options for the seniors next year.”

It is now coming up on 14 years since Cork’s last U21 All-Ireland, while 2007 was the last time Munster was won. If nothing else, victory tonight would lessen some of the lazy punditry associated with such stats.

“Sometimes, it consumes people a little bit,” Mulcahy said.

“The longer that goes on, coming from a club environment and putting on a red jersey and coming into the Cork environment, you’re reminded how long it’s been. That’s added pressure again, it has a snowballing effect.

“Back in 1997 and ’98, Cork built the team for the next 10 years off the back of that, but that was probably as much because there wasn’t success in the years previous to that and the senior team wasn’t going well at the time and they almost needed to put a new team together.

“If Cork could win Munster, then a lot of the talk would stop and the whole thing would open up for them. It’s a big test, having to do it again, if they win they’ll be doing it the hard way but you’d be encouraged with how they managed against Waterford.”

Despite going into that game as outsiders, Cork achieved an 11-point win, with Mulcahy complimentary of the approach management took to secure victory.

“I was at the Waterford match and I was really impressed,” he said.

“On paper, they didn’t really jump out as having a phenomenal side but they seemed to have a plan.

“It wasn’t a case of going out and hurling and hoping for the best, which Cork underage teams in the past might have been a little bit guilty of. They had a plan, and it worked a treat.

“That was a similar situation to tonight, they were up against a team with a lot of seniors and having to travel and this’ll be no different, Ennis is a tight pitch and there’ll be a big Clare crowd but the experience of the last day should certainly stand to them.”