Ben O'Connor: Arsenal winning the league gives everyone a bit of hope

The concluding day of the Munster round-robin coincided with the concluding day of the Premier League and O'Connor was delighted with how it turned out as Cork manager and long-suffering Arsenal supporter.

HOPE: Ben O'Connor was pleased with Arsenal's Premier League title win. Pic: ©INPHO/James Lawlor

Sunday, May 24 had the potential to be an incredibly stressful afternoon for Cork manager and long-suffering Arsenal supporter Ben O’Connor.

The concluding day of the Munster round-robin coincided with the concluding day of the Premier League.

Both his teams, from a distance out, were expected to be contending. But there were also no guarantees, not where the Munster round-robin and Arsenal’s title hopes are concerned.

In the end, Sunday, May 24 couldn’t have been more of a picnic.

Already assured of their place in Munster’s top three, Cork whipped Clare to become only the second county, after Tipp in 2019, to secure maximum points in the round-robin series. In doing so, they progressed onto the provincial decider.

As for the Gunners, all that remained on their side was to climb atop the makeshift podium at Selhurst Park and accept the Premier League trophy.

“It was great,” said Ben of a Sunday that ticked so many sporting boxes.

“The first day above in Tipperary (April 19), we were having a bite to eat in the dressing room and Shane Barrett sat down alongside me with a big smile on his face. He said, 'City are after beating Arsenal', and he was delighted with it.

“I said to him, 'Barrett, that'll make no difference, Arsenal will still win the league', and that's what happened. But it was great. For Arsenal to win the league after 22 years and us to qualify for a Munster final, it was a good day-out. The small fellas were happy going home in the car anyway.”

Given his Cork team are bidding to end their own 21-year wait, any learnings or nuggets to be taken from one famine-ending red run and applied to the other?

“They're multi-millionaires, we're not – there aren't many parallels to draw there! They're all getting paid for what they're doing, and we're here for enjoyment purposes. No, look, it just shows, Arsenal had been written off and they went on and won the league this year. It just gives everyone a bit of hope.”

An admirer of Mikel Arteta, Ben lauded the Gunners’ boss for achieving a core tenet of management - keeping every one of his players happy and on side.

“We'd have been a bit critical of a few games. If City drew a game, Arsenal were happy to draw a game. But when they let the handbrake off and went at it... yeah, I suppose it's down to the squad that he's after building. When you're dealing in multi-millions, maybe it's easy to get the squad in. But he kept them all happy and that's the main thing.”

Unsurprisingly, he has watched the All or Nothing Arsenal documentary, which provided a behind-the-curtain insight into their 2021/22 season. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t particularly enjoy a team allowing cameras into the inner sanctum.

“I wouldn't be a fan of fellas inside in the dressing room seeing what's going in. I'd like to keep everything in-house. I suppose you just see how the other side live, don't you? How pampered fellas are and what they're giving out about, they weren't above in Na Piarsaigh running around in the wind and the cold on November 17.”