Eoin O’Neill: Lack of a training base ‘didn’t help’ Cork

Cork football selector Eoin O’Neill has admitted that having no set training base throughout the winter and spring “certainly didn’t help” their league exploits which ended with relegation from Division 1.

O’Neill was responding to Derek Kavanagh’s column in the Irish Examiner which claimed that Cork’s relegation from the top flight was directly linked to the county having no centre of excellence which would serve as the footballer’s permanent home. The team had only seven field sessions between January and February and were forced to go cap in hand to several clubs when seeking a pitch for training throughout the spring.

When quizzed on whether or not their relegation to Division 2 was related to their training pitch woes, O’Neill replied: “It didn’t help, certainly.