Noel O’Leary: Retirements shouldn’t be on agenda for Cork

Former Cork footballer Noel O’Leary doesn’t expect a raft of retirements following Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC defeat to Kildare. 

The defeat in Thurles marked the first time since 2004 Cork failed to reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals but, of the starting 15, only 34-year-old Donncha O’Connor and Alan O’Connor, who turned 30 in June, are out of their 20s.

O’Leary, who departed the inter-county scene two years ago, hopes none of his former team-mates will want to leave on such a low note, while he believes manager Brian Cuthbert “has a lot of thinking to do” as regards staying on. “Being honest, I’d be very slow to see it, or to tell any of them to contemplate that,” he said.

“On paper, there’s a good balance there, the leaders are at a very good age, they’re 28 or 29. I’d think that they have another year or two in them anyway.

“It’s more experience, they’re getting a taste of what it’s like to turn things around in a week and you’d hope that if they do find themselves in that situation again, then they can prepare that bit better for it and know what’s ahead.

“In relation to Brian, he has a lot of thinking to do and nobody can answer that only himself. You’ve a lot of speculation and this type of thing but only he knows.”

Cork’s defeat came three weeks after almost beating All-Ireland champions Kerry in the Munster final. O’Leary feels that the mental hangover from that was more of a factor in Cork’s poor display against Kildare than disappointment over losing the replay to the Kingdom.

“There’ll be a lot of talk over the next few days,” he said, “but, to be honest, it’s not going to be sorted over the next few days. People have to clear their heads a small bit over the next couple of weeks It’s disappointing, the obvious thing is the seven-day turnaround, it’s tough going but mentally, you’re probably even thinking about what could have been in the drawn game against Kerry rather than losing the replay.

“It’s a bit of drain and it must have taken a lot out of them. They didn’t look like they were going to win at any stage, I got a gist from the first minute that it wasn’t going to be Cork’s night.”