Cork decline comes back into focus at County Board meeting

The issue of clubs’ access to inter-county players took up much of the discussion at last night’s Cork County Board meeting, but county coaching officer Kevin O’Donovan once again issued a plea to clubs to have a debate on the county’s decline at senior level.

At last month’s meeting, O’Donovan’s speech in the wake of the hurling defeat to Tipperary attracted much attention. Following Sunday’s football loss to the Premier County, last night O’Donovan stated that “90% of the issues” mentioned after the hurling applied to football too, but his contribution — not as long as his previous one — didn’t ignite anything, as county chairman Ger Lane preached patience.

This followed a report from the county senior management which was read out by secretary Frank Murphy, stating: “Coming into this game, the management felt that we had prepared as best we could, but a poor start proved costly, as did a wides tally of 15, compared to three for Tipperary.