'Independent-minded' Ben O'Connor the right man for Rebels, says Pat Mulcahy
Pat Mulcahy, right was part of Kieran Kingston's backroom along with Diarmuid O Sullivan and Noel Furlong. Pic: George Hatchell
Ben O’Connor’s independent mind makes him the ideal candidate to take over as Cork manager, says his Newtownshandrum club-mate Pat Mulcahy.
Together, the pair soldiered to All-Ireland senior titles at club and county level, Mulcahy following O’Connor as Cork captain in 2006, and Mulcahy has obviously welcomed reports the 46-year-old is poised to replace Pat Ryan on Tuesday next.
“Ben and Jerry had probably the best coach I've had along with Donal O’Grady in Bernie O'Connor as their father. He was certainly the biggest influence in my career. And Bernie, in lots of things he did, was way ahead of his time.
“So Ben’s had a great grounding in coaching with that exposure since he was maybe 10 years of age. They were playing a style of hurling that's probably quite commonplace now, but it was different. Bernie had to be brave to stick with that and to follow his instincts and Ben grew up with that.
“Ben and Jerry would have been very independent on their views of how the hurling needs to be played. And I think they said on ‘Laochra Gael’ recently, that if someone was criticising how they played, they'd probably be even more stubborn about it. So I think that's a good reflection of Ben, that he'd be very independent-minded. He'd have his own ways of doing things, his own ways of how things should work.”
Mulcahy envisages O’Connor putting even greater demands on players to up their intensity in training and games. “If you look at Ben's teams, they all have a high work-rate, they can all run.
“His Cork 20s, for example, compared to Pat Ryan's, in terms of styles, there was a difference, right. All of Pat Ryan's teams come out with huge confidence in their ability and play off-the-cuff. Ben's teams would be the same, but probably be even more hard-working. So that reflects their personalities.
“I'm sure Ben will have the right coaches around him to ensure that Cork are able to cope with the demands of the opposition and what they throw at them. But in terms of how they play, I don't think you can say that Ben's going to play a running, passing game or anything like that.
“You can be sure that they'll be well-coached and well-drilled, whether they go short or long. But you'll definitely have his personality imprinted in that team, which would be a very hard-working team.”
As a postman working in around the environs of Charleville, O’Connor’s occupation is quite public-facing but Mulcahy, a selector with Kieran Kingston in 2022, it’s the 130-kilometre round commute from Newtownshandrum to Cork city that will pose the biggest challenge.
“Not everyone realises the distance it is to Cork and that road is not an easy one to travel. For anyone who's involved or playing matches and games up in the city, it's a fair trek and it’s not to be underestimated.
“But Ben had exposure to that with the U20s for a couple of years, so he knows exactly what's involved there. He has a very supportive family around him, great parents and loads of brothers and sisters.
“But it’s a big role and for three years and it will be 24-7. Everyone realises that. But Ben has achieved an awful lot in hurling circles. He's still a very young man. This is just the natural next step, I would say, for him.”
In the wake of the All-Ireland final defeat to Tipperary who surprisingly operated a sweeper for the most part, two-time All-Ireland SHC winner Mulcahy would like to see Cork solidify the sports psychological aspect of their preparations next season after Gary Keegan's advisory role in recent seasons.
“To be fair to the players, they're still probably processing it. What everyone acknowledges is that when a very different challenge was put in front of them, they failed to solve the problem on the day. Whether that was because of losing the All-Ireland final last year or whether it was because of ‘21, I don't know.
“I think what's very obvious in Cork, and I don't think we're quick enough to embrace this, is a consistent performance sports psychologist on the ground at all times, understanding the energy in the room, understanding the mood and the tone of the place.
“And managers are good at that themselves in some ways, but the level of professionalism in that space is really required in county hurling. I think in Cork we’re shy of that. We haven't embraced that as we would have embraced strength and conditioning 20 years ago.
“I don't think it's the players or the management themselves to solve that problem, but it's the biggest gap we see in Cork hurling over the last five or six or seven years that we don't embrace that enough. I hope Ben and whoever the manager is, they invest in that, and the county board invest in that space, because that's where it's at.”
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