'It’s like walking away from your family' - Kieran Kingston on ending Rebel reign

“One of the greatest strengths a man can have is recognising his weaknesses,” Kieran Kingston says. “I had to evaluate what was best for Cork hurling, not for me."

REBEL YELL: Cork supporters congratulate Cork manager Kieran Kingston and selector Diarmuid O'Sullivan after the Munster Hurling Senior Championship semi-final against Waterford in Thurles. Picture: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

A couple of weeks after Cork lost the All-Ireland quarter-final to Galway in June, Kieran Kingston and his wife Ellen went to Waterville for a few days. Walking and hiking are one of the couple’s favourite hobbies but Kingston took off on his own one afternoon because he needed the time and space to parse through the debris the wreckage of the Galway match had left floating around in his head.

The setting was perfect, the solitude ideal. As Kingston made his way around the Hogs Head loop walk, traipsing across quiet back roads and coastal paths, passing a number of ancient stone forts built by local chieftains in the early 9th century, Kingston gradually began to sort his way through much of the flotsam and jetsam from the overthrown cargo.