Ben O’Connor: Midleton going all out to win the Munster and we’re not hiding that
Midleton coach Ben O'Connor and Tommy O'Connell after defeating Glen Rovers in the Co-Op Superstores Cork Premier SHC final at Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Midleton coach Ben O’Connor says the senior county champions will go all out to become the first Cork club in 12 years to claim Munster honours.
O’Connor was part of the Newtownshandrum side that beat Ballygunner in the 2009 decider. Since then, Glen Rovers in 2016 are the only Cork team to appear in a decider while Midleton last ruled the province in 1987.
Former Cork captain O’Connor claimed three Munster senior titles while as a coach he guided Charleville to an intermediate title in 2018. The provincial competition is one to be enjoyed, he believes.
As they turn their attentions to facing Kilmallock in a semi-final on December 11 or 12, O’Connor also argues there is county pride at stake following what happened in August’s All-Ireland final. “Of course it is (important), especially after Cork being beaten by Limerick in an All-Ireland final. There isn’t that much of a gap. Cork had a bad day at the office, Limerick had a very good day at the office so it is someplace in between.
“We’re going to have a right cut off Kilmallock in three weeks’ time and we’re going all out to win the Munster and we’re not hiding that. It’s not too often that you win a county and it isn’t too often you get an opportunity to represent your county after that so we’re going to Limerick in three weeks time and we’re going to have a right cut and we want to stay in this competition for as long as we can.
“I just think the pressure is off. The hardest thing is to win your county. Everybody knows your team, everybody knows what way you set up and everything. Now we did play Kilmallock in a challenge match in July so they know about us and we know about it but it’s going to be totally different. You’re going to be playing in December and we’re just hoping for a fine day. I just always found that when we got there ourselves that we went out and enjoyed it. You’ve a day out on the bus, a few pints on the way home after it, it’s a big day out for the lads.”
In accepting the position alongside Ger Fitzgerald, the 42-year-old admits he was intrigued by becoming the first senior management figure from outside Midleton. “Luke O’Farrell rang me the first day and I was actually at the races in Mallow. I said I’d ring him when I got home so I rang him and he asked me to get involved. I was thinking and I said, ‘I’ll ring you back in a week, Luke. Give me a few days.’
“So I did and I was on to a few fellas. Obviously, you ring around and you see what’s the story. I was ringing around and I heard that never before had they an outsider. So it put you thinking a small bit — ‘what’s the story here? If I go down, will everything go right?’ So I went down, met the boys and from the first night, I knew straight away there was no problem.
“With Mr Midleton Ger (Fitzgerald), he had everything organised. I just knew there was a group of players who would do anything they were asked to do and as it turned out we have about 40 on the panel and every fella is deserving of their county medal because they all put in a fierce effort and No40 has done as much training as No1. All clubs will say that but I’ve seen it first hand. It’s unbelievable down there. They’re all mad hurling down there.”
Conor Lehane’s dazzling performance in the victory came as no surprise to O’Connor.
“People were saying all year he should have been in with Cork but from our perspective we were happy to have him all year long. He’s a leader on the team and it was hugely beneficial to us to have him at all the sessions. When we started training in May he came back in unbelievable shape, because he’d done an eight-week programme himself. And that helped him to stay injury-free, which was a big help compared to previous tears when he might have had a niggle or two. He’s been terrific all year. It was often said about Conor that he wouldn’t pass or involve other players, but in the last two years I haven’t seen that at all. If a player is in a better position than Conor then he’ll pass to him because he wants to win.”
Midleton had three points to spare over Glen Rovers at full-time, having missed half a dozen chances to nail the insurance point late on. O’Connor — himself once one of Cork’s most accurate forwards — wasn’t overly concerned by those misses.
“Obviously there’s pressure in a final and mistakes are going to be made. What we said to them all year was that we didn’t mind if they made mistakes once they were trying to do the right thing.
“On Sunday we were up seven or eight points and the Glen brought it back to a draw, but we got the next point and drove on from there again.
“There was a period towards the end where we hit six or seven wides in a row, but again everyone kept working hard, kept moving into shooting positions.
“As a coach you’d say they could have moved it on a small bit more at times, but at the time we were just looking for the score to put us four ahead, to seal it.
“They kept going through the process, though, and the three subs we brought on contributed their part as well.
“Every fella knows what’s expected of him, and that’s one of the most satisfying aspects of it — you bring a fella off and the next fella in knows exactly what he’s supposed to do. I was delighted with them.”
In this paper yesterday Sean McGrath pointed out that both sides set up in relatively orthodox fashion.
“We’d a fair idea going into the game that the Glen wouldn’t be changing their approach too much, that they’d probably go in and play man on man, and we were happy enough with that.
“Hurling has swung back against sweepers to an extent, anyway. I think that’s gone out a bit because players are finding space and hitting space more — a lot of teams fielding sweepers are finding the opposition can take the sweeper out of it by moving the ball around.
It was 15 on 15 on Sunday, a good hard battle, but for all that, if Conor Dorris had taken that chance at the end, it could be a different discussion this morning, we could be facing a replay.”
Midleton’s greater firepower was crucial, he added: “We had a good spread of scorers, all our forwards were on the scoresheet while the Glen were probably relying on Patrick Horgan and Simon Kennefick — if they weren’t doing the damage it was harder to see where the scores would come from.
“At the end of the day that was probably the difference between the two teams, all the Midleton forwards looked like they’d score while the Glen were relying on two main threats.
“Take Ross O’Regan, who ended up with four points and showed a huge work rate all through. Our half forward line ended up with 19 points out of our 24, while against Blackrock the main damage was done by our full-forward line.
“The final was different because we’d seen against Sars in the semi-final that the Glen half-backs was their main line, and if we could win that battle we’d be in a great position.”
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