Former Cork selector Donal O'Mahony sees positive effects of Ben O'Connor tweaks

O'Mahony feels Cork are "more compact" in defence compared to the side he worked with for three years under Pat Ryan

Ex-Cork selector Donal O'Mahony on the 2025 All-Ireland final defeat to Tipperary: "We just felt that we didn't make good decisions. That was hard to stomach.” Pic:  ©INPHO/Ken Sutton

On Wednesday, Donal O’Mahony played a round of golf in Douglas with Pat Ryan and his fellow selectors.

Who took the money? “Rasper (Fergal Condon),” smiles O’Mahony. “He always does. He’s like the referees, he’s never wrong.” The group have long enjoyed each other’s company but there is far more ease among them these days after their three-year stint as a management team finished up last season.

“It’s a massive change,” says O’Mahony. “You don't realise how much you put into it when you're involved because you just do it, and you're there and you're enjoying the journey so much.

“But when you step off the merry-go-round then it's just the mental relief in the sense that you're not thinking about this thing 24-7 and looking to find that extra inch of advantage.” 

There’s great pride for O’Mahony now as he takes his place in the stand. Watching some of the players they worked with as boys become men under their watch and seeing how Ben O’Connor has developed them further.

The Bishopstown man wholeheartedly endorses the changes O’Connor has made this year. That tightness at the back, the additions of Barry Walsh and William Buckley to attack, although Alan Walsh is the new face there on Saturday.

“We’d been there for three years and we didn't get where we wanted to get. There's no point in going back doing the same thing and seeing if you're going to get a different outcome.

“Ben was very fair when he was saying that there wasn't that much that needed to be changed because we did get to finals, won a league and Munster. But they're definitely more compact at the back and conceding less and the consequence of that then is you're probably not going to get as many goals as we did over the last three years so he's after tweaking and it does seem to be working ahead of this semi-final.

“Obviously, training is going very well if you can put a fella like Alan in out of the blue and he performs like he does against Offaly. I think Ben and the lads are cognisant in the last few years that you need 17, 18, 19 fellas, and there is real depth now, which is very encouraging.” 

As a selector, O’Mahony didn’t hide his ambitions and he supported Alan Connolly’s remarks after the Division 1A win over Kilkenny in March that winning the All-Ireland was the goal. It was hardly outrageous given Cork’s run of form the past two seasons.

“We've been in the last two All-Ireland finals, lost the two of them, so the goal is win the All-Ireland final. If Alan said anything else, people know that he's being disingenuous. I think he was very obvious with what he said.

“It was disappointing losing a Munster final but that wasn’t the prize they were after this year. The prize they’re after is the All-Ireland and I think people respect Alan’s honesty.

“It does put a bit of added pressure on himself and the team, but they're not afraid of doing that because they want to be very open in the goals that they have.” 

O’Mahony’s admiration for a group that remain highly competitive despite their setbacks is clear. “If you look at Clare winning the All-Ireland and didn't get out the following year and the same with Tipp this year after winning the All-Ireland last year.

“We've the form of not winning finals and feeling heartbroken especially after '24 and then not performing last year but to keep coming back... Gary (Keegan) said to us, 'Any team can get lucky once, it's the teams that just keep getting to finals, winning finals' and Cork are at that stage now, consistently getting to Munster finals, league finals, All-Ireland finals. We just need to get over the line and I think Ben is in a great position to achieve that goal.

“Action speak louder than words and the fact they keep getting to league finals, keep getting out of Munster despite the injuries they have faced this year, it’s a massive credit to the lads and to Ben, Ronan (Curran) and the management.” 

Ryan has spoken openly about last year’s All-Ireland final defeat to Tipperary and O’Mahony doesn’t stray much from the same review. The criticism was expected but some of it was excessive. He paid no mind.

“You just don't concentrate on the noise. There's always so much of it around Cork, particularly this team, that if you start getting sucked into the noise, you get too high in the good days and you get too low in the bad days.” 

As Cork players return to Croke Park for the first time since then, the disappointment of the second half has stuck with O’Mahony. “We were six points up at half-time in an All-Ireland final and any team would bite their hand off for that.

“Credit where credit's due, Tipperary played very well in the second half. But the ultimate thing that makes it hard to go to sleep at night is that we just didn't get the best out of ourselves in the second half.

“We felt that if we got the best out of ourselves, we were going to win, and we just didn't do that as management and not just the players. We just felt that we didn't make good decisions. That was hard to stomach.”