Alan Cadogan’s balancing act with Cork and UCC
“If they can’t get the communication going between them, there’s something seriously wrong,” said Cadogan of brothers Kieran and Tom Kingston, bosses of Cork and UCC respectively.
“There’s good organisation between the two of them — you don’t want to flog players at the beginning of January. The main thing is balancing the training and the games —we’ll recover, then train tonight with the Fitzgibbon team ahead of our next game, Thursday night.”
Cadogan was speaking after the dramatic conclusion to Sunday’s league final, when he struck the injury-time goal which won the trophy for Cork. “Things have been going reasonably well, it’s a busy time of year between UCC and Cork, but while it’s nice to have that momentum. We’re not getting too carried away. It’s all about getting the training and the recovery balanced, we’ll see how we are on Thursday.
“The goal was down to the lads working hard out the field, Seamus [Harnedy] got a ball and I thought he was going to take it on, but he gave me a great ball and my job was easy. The quality of the ball from the lads out the field makes my job and Patrick’s [Horgan] much easier, they’re the lads doing all the hard work and our job is easy enough. We have to give them huge credit for the work they’re doing.”
Cadogan was full of praise for the newcomers to the Cork squad.
“It’s early in the year still, it’s nice to get some silverware, but we know ourselves that the performance Sunday, or in the other [Munster] league games, that won’t do in the National League or the championship. At the same time, it’s nice to have some momentum going into the league. It’s a huge step up, but the young lads bring freshness to the team, the likes of Mark Coleman, Shane Kingston, Darragh Fitzgibbon— they’re all still 19 or 20, so they’re learning their trade, but you can see they’re holding their own, which is good news for everybody.
“Management have stressed the need for competition for places, saying that nobody’s position is safe — and rightly so. The likes of Shane, Darragh, Mark and the others, they’re all making a huge contribution. They’re playing with huge freedom and driving it on as well. And making me feel old, too.”
His views were echoed by Conor Lehane.
He said: “The competition has served its purpose, it was to give players game time, getting lads used to each other and the way they play. It’s also a good habit to get into, winning games, but as everyone’s being saying, it’s only January. We’re taking it for what it is. When the national league starts then lads can get injured and suspended and so on, so it’s good to give lads experience. We were all young lads coming onto the panel at one stage, we all know what it’s like, so you try to help them along the way you were helped yourself. They’re hugely committed to it and they’ve fit into the dressing-room perfectly.”
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