Brian Cuthbert’s kid gloves treatment pays dividends for Colm O’Neill

At this stage of Cork’s league campaign last season, Colm O’Neill’s contribution amounted to two substitute appearances and five points.

It was consistent with Brian Cuthbert’s kid gloves approach towards the player on his return from a third cruciate operation. O’Neill’s summer was as much a story of frustration as he only had his first start against Sligo in the qualifiers.

Cuthbert recently defended his decision. “He’s a very special player and I wanted to make sure he was going to be playing many more years for Cork and if I was to forsake three or four months of last season for that to happen I was happy out.”