Under the radar: The work required to build senior success

By John Coleman

It’s now three years since Dónal Óg Cusack eviscerated his County Board on ‘The Sunday Game’ over the shambolic recent record of Cork hurling at all levels. At the time, it was hard to argue with him as the numbers spoke for themselves.

From 2009 to 2015, Cork were rooted firmly to the bottom of the honours table in Munster, mustering only one Munster Senior title, in 2014, to go along with Newtownshandrum’s last Munster club crown in 2009.

Meanwhile, in second place on that infamous table which Cusack had prepared, were Limerick, with 10 titles.

Ten titles that were spread nicely across minor, U21, Harty, senior and club. Ten titles that showed Limerick hurling was rising steadily.

Even before Cusack’s criticisms, the soul-searching had started in Cork and the hard work had begun.

In an interview with GAA.ie, Cork GDA games manager Kevin O’Callaghan admitted that “Cork were probably slow off the mark in embracing development squads and we paid the price for that for a couple of years.”

That’s not the case now as Cork are, as O’Callaghan said, “beginning to catch up”. On the ‘Rebel Óg’ website the goals and strategy are clear; to maximise participation through regular, meaningful games aligned with top-class coaching. Rebel Óg also shows how Cork are using their size to their advantage by regionalising their development squads to expose more players to top-class coaching.

It’s one of the many sub-plots that makes tomorrow’s All-Ireland semi-final so fascinating.

Because while Limerick have been performing formidably at under-age level for a while now, Cork are slowly beginning to close the gap through the success of their strategy.

What is the best practice when it comes to developing the stars of tomorrow?

When a player comes out the other side of it after U21 is it a beginning or an end in itself? It’s a tough one to answer.

Limerick have seen a false dawn before when they rattled off three All-Ireland U21 titles in a row from 2000-2002. For that generation, that was the end — not the beginning.

Their Games Development Manager, Noel Hartigan, in an interview with GAA.ie last year, acknowledged that while there was a five-year plan in place at the time, it wasn’t integrated enough.

“There was a plan in place, but teams worked individually, now there is more joined up thinking. There is more of a pathway.”

In contrast, when Cork last claimed All-Ireland U21 honours in 1997 and 1998 it was a launchpad for the senior successes of 1999, 2004 and 2005. It was a beginning, a means for ultimate success.

The landscape has changed somewhat since Dónal Óg’s castigation, but what do the stats from 2013 to now tell us about Cork and Limerick?

In a nutshell, Limerick are ticking all the right boxes.

If we use Cusack’s table as a template, they are now top of the pile with an incredible 17 titles, with the highlight being their two U21 hurling crowns.

The only thing they’re lacking is a senior All-Ireland. But it’s not only their success that’s impressive, it’s also their attitude. Competing supersedes winning to a certain degree as Hartigan said the Academy wasn’t aiming to “necessarily win all at Under 14 or Under 15 it was that you’d have players ready to compete at minor.”

He also spoke of ‘culture’ and ‘ethos’ and how teams can feed off one another. It’s all about the big picture, unity and chasing the big one.

John Kiely has seen all of this at first hand and has helped pour the foundation through his involvement at U21 level.

Cork have risen from bottom to third place, just behind Tipperary, with ten titles. They’re also mimicking Limerick in their commitment to process and unity.

John Meyler had been involved at U15, U16 and U21 level before ascending to the senior role. He also brought Kieran Murphy and Seánie Barry with him while selector Dónal O’Mahony has been central to the hurling renaissance in CBC Cork.

As for constant exposure to high-intensity games?

This is where the schools really come into their own as players earn their spurs in winter conditions. Ardscoil Rís have annexed three of the last six Harty Cup titles. Outside of that Limerick have had at least three schools involved in the Harty for the last five years.

Cork schools have, however, lost three of the last six Harty Cup finals. But there are plenty players getting exposure to this level of hurling with at least five Cork schools participating over the past five years.

The Dean Ryan U16½ competition is often indicative of what will happen at Harty level. Here, Ardscoil have claimed one title for Limerick while three of the last six winners have come from Cork, Midleton CBS (2) and St. Colman’s Fermoy, further signalling the health of both counties.

But Limerick can also throw in Na Piarsaigh’s dominance of Munster club hurling and the fact that the last five Fitzgibbon titles have landed on Shannonside (although Fitzgibbons come with the usual caveats).

Of course, the argument could be made the industry of developing talent shows that elitism has permeated the foundations of the association. Hartigan revealed in his GAA.ie interview, for example, that no Bord na nÓg games take place on Saturdays to facilitate the Academy.

However, like all ‘Catch-22’ situations, if you don’t play the game you’ll soon be left behind in the race for glory, as Cork found out all too recently. And, as O’Callaghan concluded in his interview, “while it’s good to be winning minors, ultimately Cork winning at senior level is what we want to be defined by. There is no magic wand here, hard work is the only way this can be achieved.”

There’s no doubt that Limerick have experienced that winning feeling more often than Cork during their respective apprenticeships.

However, when it comes to the only one that matters both teams are as green as one another.

As for who’s doing it better? Well, events will dictate that, starting tomorrow afternoon in Croke Park.