Tony Davis: 'Football is tolerated in a lot of Cork clubs and that’s being nice'

'TOLERATED': Cork great Tony Davis feels the big ball showpiece fails to grip Cork imaginations like its hurling counterpart. File pic: Gerard McCarthy

Skibbereen great Tony Davis has a county senior football medal with O’Donovan Rossa from 1992, but in final week he’s acutely aware the big ball showpiece fails to grip Cork imaginations like its hurling counterpart.

Speaking on the Irish Examiner Gaelic Football Podcast about the build-up to Sunday’s final meeting of St Finbarr’s and Nemo Rangers, the former Cork star accepts the buzz is not quite the same as a fortnight ago.

“The Cork football final, to us, football people, we’d never miss it. I don’t think I’ve ever missed it. But on the wider scale of things here in Cork it’s well down the line. It will be important on Sunday, but it’s well down the line.

“Football in Cork always struggles. I’m from West Cork but I live in Cork City, in Douglas. West Cork, Beara and Duhallow are more like South Kerry in tradition, in sport and music than Cork city and east Cork. It’s a divide in cultures in a way. Hurling is number one in Cork City and east Cork, no doubt about that.” 

Put to him that there are few dual Cork clubs who take football as seriously as hurling, Davis said: “100%. Football is tolerated in a lot of clubs and that’s probably even being nice, if I was being honest.” 

Nemo are the city exception to that rule, of course, with the proof in their 22 county titles. Though current champions, the Barrs have never beaten the Trabeg side in a county final, though Davis expects that stat won't survive the weekend. 

“The Barrs lost their way over the last 20 years. Did they lose their tradition, I wouldn’t say that. They had some lean times, but they refound it, they’ve worked very hard on their underage structures. I remember the Barrs restructuring their whole board to make sure everything was right. They had a good look at themselves.

"What the Barrs now have is a really good squad of players from underage and another wave coming along.

"I think the Barrs will win the final. They’ve improved an awful lot from previously. All these kids are real players, top top players. They will play with Cork at something, either hurling or football."

Davis turned that county medal into an All-Ireland Club title in 1993, but fears Cork club football is some way short of that standard now.

“At the start of the year, you judged yourself nationally. Could you win an All-Ireland? Could a Cork team win an All-Ireland? And the evidence over the last 20 years is no. You have to go back to 2003 to when Nemo beat Crossmolina. That’s 20 years of club championship. We're not at the national standard really.”