Seamus McEnaney: Where have all the Cork GAA leaders gone?

Former Monaghan manager Seamus McEnaney believes there’s a lack of leadership in both the Cork football and hurling squads.

Ahead of Monaghan’s Division 1 clash with Cork on Sunday, McEnaney accepts there was an improvement in the footballers’ performance against Dublin following the back-to-back double-digit defeats to Donegal and Roscommon.

But evaluating the recent results of both Rebel sides in the context of the past couple of seasons, McEnaney doesn’t see the same strong personalities that led the county to All-Ireland titles.

“From what I would have grown up watching and managed against, there was serious leadership in the DNA in Cork players. But now in both football and hurling they lack that and if there is one single thing Cork have lost the last couple of years it’s exactly that: leadership.

“When I managed against Cork in 2007 and 2010, Cork had the likes of Graham Canty and there were leaders in abundance who stood up when it was counted. Where are the Rebels who stood up against county boards?

“These boys now are taking beatings lying down. It’s not what I grew to expect of Cork looking at them and studying them.”

All that being said, McEnaney fears Cork could pick up their second win of the campaign when his native county visit Páirc Uí Rinn this weekend. Coming off the back of two defeats, Monaghan aren’t exactly brimming with confidence either.

“It’s a straight relegation battle. From Monaghan’s point of view, they deteriorated in performance from Dublin to Mayo. Cork put in a lot better performance against Dublin than they did the previous weekend against Roscommon.

Cork manager Peadar Healy reacts after Dublin’s James McCarthy scores a goal late in the second half of last Saturday’s league defeat.

“Before the ball was thrown in this season, the big questions for Monaghan were: have we found a replacement for Eoin Lennon and have we found somebody to complement Conor McManus? After four games, the answer to each question is ‘no’.

“The man capable of replacing Eoin Lennon is Kieran Hughes but Kieran Hughes has failed to deliver on his potential. He has played 40 minutes in four games for Monaghan and that’s not enough. For us to be in with a chance of beating Cork, we need Kieran on the pitch. If he’s not available I don’t see Monaghan beating Cork.”

McEnaney, who is busy organising the opening of his new nightclub “Fire” in Drogheda this weekend, figures Monaghan will have to adopt a rearguard action to come away from Cork with a result.

“We’re going into a game with our backs to the wall, they need two points so this is a huge match for Monaghan. Win it and relegation is almost out of the question and they can think about making a semi-final. Lose and facing Kerry and Donegal in the last two games looks a lot more daunting. They are best when their backs are to the wall but Monaghan need to go back to what served them best in 2013 and ’15 in relation to the defensive system. They need to go back to it against Cork because they’ve conceded 17- point totals against Dublin and Mayo and have scored 15 and 16 points.

“Scoring that amount in February and March, you should be winning games.

“Last weekend, Conor McManus wasn’t at his best but he scored 1-8 from the 1-12 total and the eight points came from placed balls. The previous weekend he scored 12 points of the 16. He had plenty of room to do that against Dublin in Croke Park but Cork will double or treble mark him, which they’re pretty good at doing.

“If Kieran Hughes starts in the middle of the field and Darren Hughes starts at full-forward with Conor McManus well then Cork have another player to worry about. But if that doesn’t happen, Monaghan are in trouble.”