Bank of positivity ensured Cork didn't dip into the red after Tipp loss

Tonight, Cork face a Waterford side in crisis but the Leesiders are forewarned. Last year, the sides also met in the last game of the championship with nothing at stake for the Déise, but Cork only pulled away in the final minutes.

Lesson learned, says Cork selector Donal O’Mahony. “We’re at the business end of the championship now, so there can be no surprises, really. Everyone can beat everyone else on any given day.

“Waterford are very proud of their hurlers and they won’t be happy with where they’re at now. Everyone thought we were the world’s worst against Tipperary, but, in the space of a week, we managed to turn that around, and I’d expect Waterford to improve, as well.

“Everyone expected us to beat them last year in the championship, but we went up to Thurles and what happened was we had to bring on Conor O’Sullivan, who brought fantastic composure to the game — that changed it and we got over the line. We’re expecting a titanic battle from Waterford, who are going to come with all guns blazing.”

O’Mahony brought up the Tipperary game, so was he surprised with the negativity in Cork afterwards?

“Outside the group, yes. Inside the group, we keep our focus. The main thing is not to get too low over the bad performances and not too high with the wins.

“I think it comes back to respect, and I think we’ve earned that over the last two years. A team has to perform consistently at a high level, and we’ve won two fantastic Munster championships, so we feel we’ve earned respect.

It’s a bit surprising alright, when people get so negative so quickly about one performance, but we also feel we’ve shown we’re a good team. Every good team can have a bad performance.

How did they turn things around for Limerick then — refocusing, a new attitude, talking it out? “All of the above, really. One of the positives of the new system is that there isn’t a lot of time to dwell on a performance like the one against Tipperary; you have to recalibrate by the Monday night after the game.

“By then, there was nothing we could do with the Tipperary game other than learn from it and to prepare properly for Limerick. Thankfully, we didn’t have to do too much talking — we constantly talk about a learning environment, so we learned from the Tipp game, and from playing Limerick two or three times last year, as well.

“So, we were very happy the lads showed a big learning from the previous week (against Limerick). The narrative, really, that week, was about the difference between what good teams and great teams do — that great teams deliver when they’re under pressure and their backs are to the wall.

“Delivering under the pressure of playing the All-Ireland champions, and so on, it was very satisfying, from that point of view, to deliver that performance.”

The experience of last year — the games coming thick and fast — must be a help. “It is, and obviously everyone was in the same position last year, before it started, in that nobody knew what to expect, so you’d

definitely learn from it.

“The image we’d use all the time is the bank, that you make deposits in it and make withdrawals when we have to. Last year, we were unbeaten and we drew on that when there was a lot of negativity around the place, because Tipperary had beaten us — we had reserves built up from last year and we knew we had a good team. Yes, we had a bad day at the office, but we knew we were better than that, and we showed it against Limerick the next day.”

They’ve also had a couple of weeks to come down from the high of beating Limerick: “It’s about getting the balance right; we always try to look at the positives, while maintaining some realism, as well.

“The positive is if you win, you have momentum, and if you lose, as we did against Tipperary, then you have a quick opportunity to redress the balance. In the old system, you’d have to wallow after the Tipp defeat for weeks, as I said, whereas we were able to recalibrate the following night. Most importantly, the players knew what we had to change and they were able to drive that.”

Some of the Cork players are just out of U21, but have plenty of experience. “They do, but you also have to look at the journey they’ve been on. Darragh (Fitzgibbon) went to the All-Ireland club final with Charleville, then the Fitzgibbon Cup, and that after getting to an All-Ireland senior semi-final with Cork and an U21 All-Ireland final.

“That’s the concern we have with those fellas: they’ve been around the block, but the positive is they’ve banked that experience and can draw on it when needed, and we needed that against the Gaelic Grounds.

“A lot of people spoke last year about the depth of the panel, and being honest about it, particularly with the strength of the Limerick bench in extra-time in the All-Ireland semi-final.

“Despite what people were saying, we looked at that during the league, hence some of the results didn’t go our way — but we built depth, with the likes of Stephen McDonnell coming back, Aidan Walsh, Rob Downey...”

The proof was in starting Niall O’Leary in the first two games, clearly. “We’ve all been around the block long enough to know that sometimes these decisions go your way, as they did with Niall, and sometimes they can backfire.

“Thankfully, Niall translated his form with UCC in recent years to Cork, and he’s helped by having Eoin (Cadogan) at full-back, alongside him, playing so well. When you’re new in the corner, it always helps if the fella next to you is going well, so that’s been a massive positive for us.”

An increased work-rate from the forwards also makes Cadogan’s and O’Leary’s job easier. “I said to the lads, in training last night, that the way the game has gone now, forwards dictate the way you defend,” said O’Mahony.

“We identified that as a problem against Tipperary and we addressed it. That was the reason Aidan Walsh came in, to bring that kind of dynamism and work ethic in.

There was one ball in the corner against Limerick, Peter Casey was bringing the ball out, and Aidan turned him over — Seamus got a great point out of it.

“It’s about getting that balance right, but the appetite for work off the ball, and to defend as a unit, was much better against Limerick, and that was the key to the success we had. We played as a unit against Limerick, whereas against Tipperary we played as individuals.

“When the likes of Damien (Cahalane) and Christopher (Joyce) lost out, it wasn’t a reflection on them as individuals, they didn’t cost us the game — we lost that game as a unit, all together, management and players.

“They were unlucky to lose out, but, definitely, the forwards dictate how you defend.”

All of which suggests a ‘horses for courses’ selection policy. “That’s what we looked at considering the panel before Christmas. We felt there was no point in adding more of the same.

“We looked at the problems we had in the All-Ireland semi-final last year and looked for players who could help us to deal with those problems, to complement what we had. In that way, if we take off a fast forward, we may have something different to bring on.

“I think we have that now — we have man-markers, sweepers, ball-winners, ball-players. You play teams so often now that everyone knows everyone else inside out — if you can change your team, then, it’s very valuable.

“What’s refreshing, this year, is that we’ve made a few changes and fellas feel they have to produce to get a jersey. The likes of Aidan Walsh, Niall O’Leary, and Eoin Cadogan getting starts shows that fellas will be rewarded if they produce it in training.”