Jimmy Barry-Murphy believes club games will be beneficial to Cork in layoff
Just five senior club games, involving less than a handful of Cork panellists, were played in the five weeks between Cork’s Munster final victory over Limerick and their All-Ireland semi-final hammering to Tipperary.
Cork face a similar five-week layoff to their Munster championship opener against Waterford following Sunday’s league decider against the same opposition and Barry-Murphy insists there will be no repeat of last summer’s mistake - a full compliment of club games scheduled for the weeks ahead.
Though acknowledging an extended league run has aided the bedding in of emerging talents like Cormac Murphy and Rob O’Shea, the Cork boss also realises the importance of allowing his players break from inter-county duty.
“We have been together since earlier in the year, I think we all need a break,” remarked Barry-Murphy. “I think I learned that from the semi-final game against Tipperary last year. We had five weeks to the All-Ireland semi-final and we possibly erred in having a complete break from a lot of club activities for a lot of players.
“The league final is ideal preparation for championship as it cuts down on the number of weeks between the competitions. We have found that by not being involved in the latter stages of the league in recent years. What happens is that players drift away because the clubs championship kicks in. This keeps us together that bit longer before breaking.”
He continued: “Qualifying for the knockout stages got us two extra games of a very good calibre against Wexford and Dublin. And now we have another against Waterford. All those games are learning processes for our players. We hope this weekend will give us the perfect platform to kick on to the seventh of June.”
With question marks hanging over the fitness of Mark Ellis and Cormac Murphy, Conor O’Sullivan’s departure and Christopher Joyce’s cruciate ligament injury, defensive options are thin on the ground.
Management were forced to experiment with Aidan Walsh at centre-back for the league semi and Barry-Murphy admits the lack of rearguard cover is a concern.
“We’ve a number of young players coming through who are very promising, but it takes a while to bring fellas up to this level. Obviously Christopher Joyce was a loss because he had been going well. Mark getting sick and injured was another set-back. You just have to get on with it and make sure you have enough cover as is in the county to cover you.”
Mind you, the landscape couldn’t be further removed at the other end of the field - up to 10 hurlers are scraping for the jerseys numbered 10 through 15.
“Paudie O’Sullivan has done great and he could be asking why he is not starting. I am sure in his own head he is wondering when will he. His scoring return is fantastic. “I think (the squad) is a work in progress and there are some lads who are probably not happy that they haven’t got as much game-time as they would have liked. Overall, I’m very happy that a lot of players have got plenty of game-time.”
Barry-Murphy claims not to have seen Waterford’s defensive system in action, but acknowledges the most effective manner to learn of its idiosyncrasies ahead of June 7 is to face it head on.
“There have been recent discussions about the football teams and playing negatively but, personally, I think every team is entitled to set up whatever way they want, what suits their players.
“Obviously, Derek McGrath feels this suits his players and who’s to argue with it at the moment? I thought they’d struggle at home to Galway in the quarter-final, but they didn’t. They’ve been the team of the league.”
He added: “I don’t think there will be any element of a phoney war on Sunday. I think it’s fair to say that both teams would love to win something. We’ve been out of the limelight for a couple of years so I presume there’ll be an edge to the game because of that, we’ll both be going for it.”
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