Cork Premier SHC final: Consistency is fine but Robert Downey wants a medal

Well acquainted with walking away from the showpiece event empty-handed, Robert Downey is hoping for a different view on Sunday.

Glen Rovers’ Robert Downey clears from Midleton’s Luke O’Farrell during the 2018 Cork SHC at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. They face each other in the final on Sunday. Picture: Eddie O’Hare

It’s all fine and dandy wearing the title of Cork’s most consistent club team, but at some stage, preferably Sunday coming, this group of Glen Rovers hurlers would desperately like to add to their county medal haul.

Robert Downey, unlike the majority of his Glen teammates, has yet to play on a county final winning team. Part of the extended panel for the 2016 victory over Erin’s Own, it wasn’t until the following season that the then teenager broke onto the club’s flagship team.

His graph rose sharply from there, the half-back having already tasted senior inter-county championship fare by the time he lined out in his first county final in October of 2019. And with Glen Rovers returning to the decider last year, this weekend represents his third appearance in the final.

Well acquainted with walking away from the showpiece event empty-handed, he’s hoping for a different view on Sunday, in the clash with Midleton that will be live-streamed by the Irish Examiner.

“You could say it is good consistency from us to reach three finals in-a-row, but our goal at the start of each year is to get to the final. And if you get to the final, you then want to go on and win it.

“It is great getting there, but the last two finals didn’t go our way and so hopefully we can right that wrong on Sunday. You have to take the opportunities when they come around because you just don’t know when they are going to come around again,” said Downey.

The 22-year-old returned to the club scene in late August after an inter-county campaign where he established himself as Cork’s first-choice full-back following injuries to Eoin Cadogan and Damien Cahalane in the week before the county’s qualifier game with Clare.

The half-back line is where he much prefers doing his business, but he quickly adapted in the number three shirt thrust upon him by Kieran Kingston, as evidenced by the All-Star nomination he received in recent weeks.

“The way the game has gone, you are playing on a knife-edge the whole time in the full-back line. You could be turned in two seconds and made a fool out of, whereas you have a bit more cover in the half-back line, you are not the last line of the pitch.

“Growing up playing with the Glen, I would have always been in the half-back line, so it is probably where I am more comfortable.

“Exposure to all those championship games this summer would bring you on leaps and bounds, especially with your confidence. It also made me a lot more excited to play with the club. Losing to Limerick was of course disappointing, but the best thing to get over a loss like that is just get back on the horse and go again.”

That he has. Downey has stood out as the leading defender in this year’s county championship with a series of commanding performances at centre back for the now perennial finalists.

All that’s left to do is take that last remaining step and not again be left disconsolate come Sunday’s final whistle. Easier said than done mind, as recent seasons have proven.