'His trainings are class': Conor Lehane hails new Midleton coach ahead of Cork decider

Lehane said Midleton coach Frank Flannery has been a 'huge addition' to their set-up. 

Midleton face Sarsfields in Sunday's Cork Premier SHC decider thanks to Conor Lehane's late winning free in the semi-final. Pic: Dan Linehan.

For the purposes of clarity, this conversation with Conor Lehane took place three days before news emerged that he is likely to miss Sunday’s Cork hurling final because of an Achilles problem.

Having been visibly hobbling at the time of his 82nd minute winning free against Blackrock two weeks ago, Lehane was asked how was the body and had any injury accrued from the semi-final victory.

His reply of “no, it’s all good” gave no indication of concern, and no indication that Midleton might enter Sunday’s decider without their 0-49 chief contributor.

Word locally is that the Achilles had been an issue for Lehane against both the Glen and Rockies, with the full seriousness of the problem not coming to light until late last week.

Unlike 2023 where they topped their group and progressed direct to the semis, Midleton have forced themselves to travel a much tougher road to this latest county final appearance.

A second-round draw with Newcestown meant they had to mine some sort of a result against Charleville on the final day of group action to advance. They found themselves seven adrift of Glen Rovers 40 minutes into the quarter-final. They found themselves six adrift of Blackrock 41 minutes into the semi-final. The latter was a fixture they never led until the 58th minute.

“Ideally you don't always want to be coming back in the game, but it's obviously great confidence-wise and your kind of mentality that if things are going against you, you just try and keep the head and play it out. So that's always good,” remarked Lehane.

“But starting slow in two games obviously is the other side of the coin. You want to make sure you cross off and understand why that's happening and then try and improve on that.” 

This proven ability to work themselves out of tight spaces, allied to a strengthened panel owing to Cormac Walsh and Killian Burke’s return home from overseas, Sean O’Sullivan’s return from injury, the emergence of Evan McGrath, and Luke O’Farrell’s new bench role, leaves Lehane to draw the conclusion that, mentally, they are in a much better place entering the 2025 decider against Sars than they were the '23 showpiece against the same opposition.

Throw into the mix too new coach Frank Flannery.

“He's unbelievable. His trainings are class. Even chats with him one-on-one or as a group, he's so open. Obviously his experience as a coach speaks for itself. He's so passionate about the whole thing and that feeds us as players as well. It's brilliant and he's been a huge addition,” the centre-forward continued.

Against all that, of course, is the confirmed absence of in-form full-back Eoin Moloney and likely absence of Lehane himself. Their uneven road to a first county title since 2021 continues.

It was off the back of another final that Lehane immediately rejoined the Midleton fold at the end of July. He sought no escape or detachment following Cork’s All-Ireland final collapse. He was happy to return to familiar arms.

“In a way it's probably a big help because it focuses you on something else. Once you have something else to focus on, your brain isn't caught up in what just happened.

“Obviously you're going to feel the disappointment, no matter what. And that first week is very tough. You talk to who you need to talk to, you get out whatever you need to say to someone and your buddies. But then you have to park it. It's forever going to be on your mind for the rest of your life, to an extent, when you think about it. You have to park something in order to give the best version of yourself to something else. You can't just be still caught up in something in the past.” 

How dearly Midleton wish he was in position to give the best version of himself come 3.15pm on Sunday.