Cork's Luke Fahy: We're going down to play Kerry, not Fitzgerald Stadium

After injury-plagued years, Luke Fahy is finally a Cork regular.

Fri, 08 May, 2026 - 06:55

John Fogarty

This ain’t Luke Fahy’s first Killarney rodeo. He was there two years ago when Kerry pushed away from Cork in the closing stages of a Munster semi-final but blink and you might have missed him.

Soon after, he tore his hamstring and missed the remainder of the championship.

When he came back for Ballincollig later in the year, he ripped the left one off the bone. Upon returning to the Cork panel last year, he reinjured the left and played a side part for the remainder of the year.

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Throw in the fact he was out for six months with an ankle problem in 2023 and Fahy’s elevation to a regular feels delayed, but he disagrees with the idea he’s beginning all over again.

“I wouldn't say a new start, because I've been around the lads for a lot of time. I’m getting a run of games and that's probably the difference.

“I feel that's probably the start where I'm at now, and probably ties into me being consistent, that I'm on the field. So, look, I'm delighted about it to be honest, and that I'm able to keep playing.”

Save for Brian Hurley (groin) and Dara Sheedy (hamstring), Cork are without huge injury concerns. That wasn’t always the case and in numbers Fahy found safety. “There was a good few of us around, we just put our hand around each other, and kind of push each other along.”

Fahy’s positive mindset has helped him through the rigours but he gives performance coach Kevin Clancy credit too even if he admits “I probably annoy him a bit too much”.

He says: “Like, I wouldn't be ringing him every day of the week – I'm not that bad – but I ring him just to run things by him and just get a few ideas. If something goes wrong in a game, how can I react differently or just change the mental side of it.”

Recent meetings with Kerry — going so close in extra-time 13 months ago, not to mention the strides made this year — give Fahy and Cork more than hope on Sunday.

“I think we've always been ultra-competitive (v Kerry), it's just about getting over and pushing ourselves to probably go another level, and I feel we're kind of building towards that.”

The venue and possibly the occasion in Killarney might have debilitated Cork teams in the past but you get the sense from Fahy that it won’t impact them this weekend. It’s about them and who they are facing. Nothing else.

“They're All-Ireland champions. They were the best team in Ireland last year. They're Munster champions, so they're the best team in Munster last year as well, so I think you're going down to play Kerry. I wouldn't say you're going down to play Fitzgerald Stadium, you're going down to play Kerry.”

Fahy knows what the recent uptick in the fortunes of Cork football means to their loyal bunch of followers having been one. He was a 12-year-old in the Upper Hogan Stand in 2010 as Conor Counihan’s side bulldozed their way to All-Ireland glory after years of hard luck stories, most of them narrated by Kerry. “I was up there next to the journalists, with my mother. Two club men playing, Johnny (Miskella) and Pat (Kelly).”

With his father and brothers, he made several trips to Killarney via Ballyvourney only to come home spurned or empty-handed. Those experiences left great impressions on him. “Walking up to Killarney, it's something as a player growing up and a young fella, you dream of. For this group, it's been a long time coming. Five years. It's a big challenge ahead, but we're really looking forward to it.”

Manager John Cleary was retired from Cork two years when the county last beat Kerry in Fitzgerald Stadium in SFC fare in 1995 but he won three championship games against Kerry in Killarney, twice in Munster finals. He has the t-shirt.

It was vital that Cleary agreed to remain on after last season, Fahy says. “Massively. I'd be big on consistency and having him as a constant is probably the most important thing. He's been brilliant and he keeps it fresh, in fairness, and he's always trying to better the group.

“He puts his life on hold and he puts everything there for us. He's been brilliant and he's built an unbelievable backroom team around him. He wants the best for Cork football and I'm delighted that he stayed on, to be honest.”