Winning a national title 'vital' for Cork's older players, says Alan Browne

Blackrock man Browne was goalscorer for Cork when they last claimed National League crown in 1998

Wed, 30 Mar, 2022 - 06:30

John Fogarty

Former Cork captain Alan Browne has stressed how essential it is for the county to win Saturday’s Division 1 final.

A goalscorer for Cork when they last claimed National League glory in 1998 against Waterford, the Blackrock man recognises there is symmetry between Kieran Kingston’s side and the one that claimed an All-Ireland title the following season.

And while Browne has no fears about what a defeat to the Déise this weekend would do to the morale of the younger players, it’s for those who lost the 2013 and 2020 All-Ireland deciders as well as the 2012 and ’15 league finals to Kilkenny and Waterford respectively that he would have concerns.

“I think a win is vital for Cork on Saturday because if they were to lose it would put another dent in the confidence of not so much the younger players but maybe the older players who have been beaten in national finals over the last while.

“You can imagine what training would be like next week if they were to win. You’re on a high and bouncing and buzzing but if you lose it could take you the week to get over the disappointment. If it was all won on skills and fitness, they’d be in a good place but a lot of this is in the head.”

The correlation between ’98 and 2022 extends to Cork again facing Limerick two weeks after the Division 1 final. Back then, Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s side backed up their league triumph with a championship victory in the Gaelic Grounds and Browne has no worries about this weekend’s fixture taking too much out of Cork before a bigger priority of trying to beat Limerick in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Easter Sunday.

“Limerick this year had a very poor league campaign. Whether that’s by design or their form has dipped, that’s the million-dollar question. They have had massive success over the last number of years and no matter what you say it is hard to maintain that. There is pressure on them all the time to keep going 100% but there is no guarantee that they can turn it on when they want.”

Reaching last year’s All-Ireland final as they did, Browne sees this Cork group as being “probably a bit ahead” of the team he was a part of in 1998. “I just think on the day Cork were that bit inexperienced,” he says of the heavy loss to Limerick. “My 10-year-old daughter, it was her first All-Ireland final, and she said to me at half-time, ‘I think the game is gone from us, Dad.’ I said to her we would enjoy watching Limerick in the second half. Nothing went wrong for them. It was like Kilkenny against Limerick or Waterford at the end of the 2000s when everything that could go right went right for them.”

Browne likes that freshness abounds in the panel as it did 24 years ago. “Before ’98, we had hardly won a championship match. There was the bit of experience in players like Brian Corcoran but Diarmuid O’Sullivan was captain that year in only his second season. “In the Cork squad now, the few gaps that were there over the last number of years have been filled. Fellas who had no experience of losing, who have won back-to-back U20s, and seem to have no fear, are coming in. I think Cork have a bit to go but if they won the league it would bring them on and bring a massive amount of confidence.”

Taking off Shane Kingston and Patrick Horgan as the fat was in the fire against Kilkenny last Saturday, Browne recognised Kieran Kingston was playing from arguably his strongest deck across his two terms in charge.

“It was in a way a surprise they were brought off so swiftly but it’s a sign from the management that everybody has to be kept on their toes. They were big calls to freshen it up. Tim O’Mahony made a big difference when he came on. It’s very positive but it’s because they have the options this year they may not have had in previous seasons.

“Is it better for some players to come into a game than start it because they react better and make more of an impact that way? Are some players more suited to the game when it is looser?”