Paul Kerrigan: Cork can catch one of top four

Championship number 10 begins this Saturday evening for Paul Kerrigan and it is a changed landscape since 2008. Notably, it’s not for the better.

Nemo Rangers’ run to the All-Ireland club final that year saw a 21-year-old Kerrigan elevated to the Cork set-up and he was the final sub introduced in the county’s 1-16 to 1-11 Munster final win over Kerry. He’d even throw over an injury-time point.

In the present set-up, those who don’t have a provincial medal in their back pocket far outweigh those who do; Kerrigan is one of nine survivors who saw action in the 2012 final rout of Clare. That was his fifth campaign and, by the close of 2012, he had collected three Division 1 league medals, three Munster medals, and a Celtic cross.