O’Driscoll: People said Cork football was dead. It is nowhere near that
Cork U20 captain Peter O’Driscoll has described as premature the commentary which pronounced Cork football as being dead and buried.
The Cork U20s meet Dublin in this Saturday’s All-Ireland final (O’Moore Park, 4pm), bidding to secure the county’s first All-Ireland football title (excluding junior) since the senior triumph of 2010.
But irrespective of the outcome of Saturday’s decider, the U20s have already done their bit in this restorative summer for Cork football.
Earlier this month they delivered the county’s first provincial silverware in three years, as well as ending the county’s three-year wait for a championship win over Kerry, while Sunday’s victory over Tyrone secured a first All-Ireland final appearance since 2016.
The message from half-back O’Driscoll following their come-from-behind semi-final win was that Cork football has not gone away.
“Cork football has got a massive slating the last few years. This year has definitely shown the talent that is there within the county,” said the skipper.
“A lot of people said Cork football was dead. It is nowhere near that.
This win will lift the county. Even the support we had here, and for the minors too, was brilliant. Cork football has not gone away, by any means.
The Ilen Rovers defender praised the character shown by his team-mates to turn around a seven-point deficit.
“In our two other games against Kerry and Waterford, we were ahead at half-time. In both of those games, we were able to tell ourselves at half-time to keep doing what we were doing.
“In the first half here, we ran into the tackle a small bit too much. We were four down at the break so we had to regroup. At half-time, we said we’d get back to the game-plan and we reaped the rewards in the second half.
"The lads showed unbelievable character, especially after Tyrone got those early second-half points to go seven in front.”
Dublin and Cork drew 1-18 apiece when they met in the John Kerins Cup at the beginning of last month.
O’Driscoll insisted they’ll be keeping the focus on themselves this week, as opposed to getting bogged down in devising a plan to stop free-scoring Ciarán Archer and company.
Our objective was to get to an All-Ireland final. We are where we want to be and now we can’t wait to be in it. Dublin are a good team.
"We played them in the league already so we know slightly what they are about. We’ll be looking after ourselves, though, and getting our heads right.”
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