McCarthy’s Cork team is slowly taking shape

It’s only February, but are summer line-ups coming into view? A chat with Ronan McCarthy indicates that while the Cork football manager isn’t about to pick his championship 15 now, he does concede things are “starting to take shape bit by bit”.

“What we’re more interested in is generating competition for places in the group. Take Cian Kiely, for example. He did so well last week that you now have fellows who played in previous matches — Tom Clancy, Kevin Crowley, Brian O’Driscoll, Kevin Flahive, all fine players in their own right — now looking over their shoulders.

“You need that level of competition across all the lines on the pitch. That’s developing nicely and we will continue to do that to try and give opportunities to fellows in the panel. There is no point having a fella, say number 33 in the panel, and not ever use him.