'The hunger is there' insists Brian Hurley ahead of 13th Cork championship campaign
UNLUCKY FOR SOME: Cork captain Brian Hurley ready for his 13th campiagn with the Rebels. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Neil Lordan, Seán Brady, and Seán McDonnell will make their Cork championship debuts at TUS Gaelic Grounds later today.
Brian Hurley, some 12 years earlier, made his championship debut at the same venue, against the same green opposition, and at the same first stage of the provincial race.
Hurley celebrated his 33rd birthday during the week. Retirement by John O'Rourke in the off-season means he now wears the title of most experienced and longest-serving member in John Cleary’s set-up.
Ruairí Deane has him by a few months for the title of oldest panel member. We imagine Hurley is happy to let him have that particular one.
Given how he keeps himself and what he still contributes, we wouldn’t dream of saying that the Cork captain is pushing on. He is moving on, though. The clock and calendar don’t lie.
The aforementioned Seán Brady still had a few years to run in primary school when Hurley first lined out in red at senior level.
“The hunger is there as much as ever,” said the inside forward ahead of Championship campaign No.13 throwing-in this evening.
“With the league, you have weather conditions, pitch conditions, travel; that can be a bit full-on. The championship, and when the sun comes, it really gives you the bite, the hunger, and the bit of fire in the belly.
“Appetite-wise, you would still be buzzing going training, and that’s really the most important thing. You put so much in and make so many sacrifices, so if the hunger is not there, you probably wouldn’t be there yourself.
“Since that day that I came in, the game has changed a lot. It was a very relaxed time back then. You would come in and do your free weights before you went out training in the old Páirc.
"It was old school, but it was cool at the same time. The game has moved on. Every team is pushing the limits out, and every team is trying to follow.”
Hurley arrived, that day in 2012, into one of the most competitive and successful panels in the country. Cork had collected the three most recent Division 1 League crowns, not to mind ultimate honours in 2010.
The 12 years since have borne little resemblance. Relegation from Division 1. Relegation from Division 2. The swift stay in Division 3 during the Covid-interrupted 2020 season represents the sole piece of silverware - in either spring or summer - that he’s pocketed in red.
You’d think so that the current mood music around Cork football is of a different frequency to when the 20-year-old from Castlehaven arrived into the old Páirc. Not so, he says.
“We’ve always been hit hard from the outside public. If you’re in the camp and you know the honesty of the work being put in, you block that out.
“There are fellas that burst their backsides, that go through career-threatening injuries, and you see them twelve months later putting on the jersey again.
"People put their lives aside, their careers aside, it’s Cork football that they’re trying to improve. Others don’t see that. If you come down and watch training and see what’s put in three nights a week, you’d have a fair idea.
“You block it out [the noise]. Every county player is probably going to get it at some stage or another. The last few weeks have been no different. Going into the last two league games, we were probably under a bit of pressure, but we responded.”
Unlike in red, these have been glorious times for him at club level. Back-to-back county titles. A Munster thrown in there too.
While not foolish enough to ask if he wants to experience the same at inter-county level, we wonder if Castlehaven glory has managed to further intensify that want of his to taste meaningful success with Cork.
“I have that every year, that’s who I am. I’m fairly competitive. If it’s a training session, I want to win the training session. If it’s a snooker game or if it’s a FIFA game away with the lads, I have to win. That’s just the bottom line.
“My [hamstring] injuries have been well publicised. When I came back, it was like a second career and an eye-opening thing that you want to enjoy this more.
“I’m not going back into them, but you couldn’t even walk up or down the stairs, you couldn't brush your teeth. You would struggle going to the toilet. Nobody sees that side of it.
"That gives you perspective then, do you know what I mean? It made me realise that it’s only a game, but a game that I couldn’t do without.”
And while 12 years have come and gone since his debut, Cork still can't do without him.
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