Return of the Master: Why Donal O’Grady’s new role is ‘a masterstroke’ for Cork hurling

Former All-Ireland-winning manager Donal O’Grady has joined Cork’s senior hurling management group to work on analysis and coaching. 

You don’t need to be a detective to figure out that Donal O’Grady doesn’t do sentiment.

No one knows that better than Alan Browne who believes his former manager is returning to the Cork fold to work as a coach with Kieran Kingston because of the “potential” he sees within the squad.

Captain under him in 2003, Browne explained: “The thing I take from it most is he probably hasn’t been involved with a county team for a while and maybe he’s seen potential in this Cork team that maybe others don’t see, which is good.

“It’s not something he is getting involved in lightly. He has his finger on the pulse but a lot of the players involved in Cork probably know who Donal O’Grady is but the vast majority of them would never have worked with him before, which is something Cork probably need; that they’re not familiar with the person they’re dealing with.

“I remember dealing with him in 2003. I knew who he was but I had never worked with him. He brought in a culture of professionalism and there was a great respect between the players and Donal. You learned a lot from him.

“He spent a lot of time pointing out what we could improve on as individual players. He brought it back to basics.

“He does rule with the head as opposed to the heart but it probably gets the best out of fellas.”

Close on 10 years on since his first training session as Limerick manager, Gavin O’Mahony remembers the lasting impression O’Grady made on their group.

“His attention to detail comes to mind. It was our first night back at it, we trained in Knocklong and he came into the dressing room and he could name every player and had us put in groups before we left the room.

“Seven or eight of the group would be easy to identify but he knew everybody in the 35 or 36 we had, which to me showed the work he put in behind the scenes. He doesn’t take chances with anything and he hones in on the smallest detail whether it be defending a sideline or your hooking and blocking technique.

“He would have been very hands on in coaching and he’d be good at explaining what you could do if you missed a hook or block, which is great. It was never a case of going through drills for the sake of it. He picked apart the whole thing for you.” 

Stories of O’Grady suspending players for being late to training are well known but to pigeonhole him as a disciplinarian is unfair. That being said, Browne looks at the age profile now of Cork and thinks they could do with the hard taskmaster.

That distance between him and the players should work with fellas when he’s setting out the rules early. You’re dealing with adults but maybe Cork hurling needs a bit of that. Maybe fellas are too easygoing with each other in Cork hurling at the moment and that needs to change. 

“There have been a few retirements, there’s that bit of freshness again. They’re all new voices there and sometimes that is what you need.”

Dare anyone draw parallels between now and how Jimmy Barry-Murphy won with a bright bunch of kids in 1999?

Browne does just that as he looks at how young players such as his fellow Blackrock clubman Alan Connolly have been impressing.

“Alan got his chance with the U20s and I think that was an ideal way of coming in as it was for a few of the younger players. They had a great win in Munster under Pat Ryan and Wayne Sherlock of my own club involved as well. Donal could be looking at something like that, maybe like Jimmy Barry-Murphy saw how success of the U21s was the foundation for senior success in 1999. Hopefully, history is repeating itself.”

Browne doesn’t foresee any remarkable change in style, moreso O’Grady espousing the importance of smarter hurling. “It wasn’t necessarily the Newtown style he advocated with us but going back to basics, work-rate, hooks, blocks, and taking the better option when you had the ball.

“With him, it wasn’t about taking the easy option but the right option. If you didn’t do that, you were giving the advantage to your man. If you had to go back, you had to go back but you kept possession.

“It wasn’t a total possession game for him as Newtown played but he improved how we played the game. The game has totally changed and it’s a lot more physical but what Cork has been missing is this drive to get over the line.

“Limerick have a solid panel of players, some very good players who have bought into John Kiely’s message that they’re all in it together. Cork have some good hurlers too but it’s the belief that they can go on and win something that’s needed.” 

O’Mahony knows it won’t be in Cork or O’Grady’s nature to replicate the Limerick approach. “They are not going to change their game for anybody but Donal will bring that level of confidence that you’d associated with Cork teams.

“If I’m right, his role will allow him to come in for certain times. He’s big on match-ups more than styles of play and areas of the field Cork can target. He will study the opposition and see where the Cork players can match up to give themselves the best chance. They’ll then do two good weeks of hard work on that coming up to games.

It’s a role handmade for him because he’ll float in the background for a time observing and then get his points across. He has the experience and the aura to do that. 

“For Cork to have him back involved, it’s a masterstroke because people like him, with the medals and success, are few and far between. He’s one of a kind. The rest of the management team will gain huge confidence from having him there and being able to bounce things off him.”