Conor McCormack: Where there’s a will there’s a way
Anchoring the midfield, he was the Rebel Kante, an invaluable, inspirational, all-action player who helped stop the opposition in their tracks and get his own side on the front foot.
Little wonder then, that with Johnny Dunleavy still sidelined, manager John Caulfield has turned to McCormack to lead City into the new season.
The emergence of the Carlingford-born 27-year-old as Cork captain and one of the domestic game’s top players, is the product of years of hard-earned experience in football and a stop-start career during which he learned as much from the knock backs as the glory days.
Even before his 15th birthday, he had signed for Manchester United, joining the club a year later.
“Its obviously tough, leaving your family and your friends at that age, not being able to do things that normally teenagers do like going out and socialising,” he says.
“You have to make a serious commitment and a lot of people just can’t make that total commitment.
“From when I was at Man United, there were a number of players you see now that have gone on to play international football and in the Premier League — I would have played in the U18s, U19s and reserves with the likes of Tom Cleverley, Danny Drinkwater, Danny Wellbeck and Jonny Evans.”
Frustrated by his own lack of opportunities to follow suit at Old Trafford, he opted to make an adventurous move to Italian Serie B side Triestina.
“I had options to stay in England or go to Scotland ,” he recalls. “But when the offer came to go to Italy, I jumped at the chance to try a new environment, a new culture and a new way of football.”
Again, it was all part of the learning experience, but with first-team football still proving elusive, he returned to Ireland and joined Shamrock Rovers where, under then manager Michael O’Neill, he began coming into his own as a player and helped the Hoops to the league title in 2011.
It's an honour to be named captain of this great club @CorkCityFC This group of players are special. Hopefully we can repeat last years success. We are all looking forward to the new season and really determined to stay at the top ⚽️
— Conor McCormack (@ConorMc22) February 7, 2018
“He played me in the deeper role in the middle and I thought I did really well there,” he says. “That was my first bit of success in senior football.
"Then unfortunately he left and a couple of managers came in and just didn’t play me in that role and never found a settled position for me.
"I moved on to Pats and it was kind of the same thing, They never got the best out of me because they never played me in the proper position. But then I went up to Derry and played in the position that I know I’m best at.
"I had a good 18 months there and then John (Caulfield) saw the potential in me and brought me to Cork.”
The kind of tenacious determination he shows as a defensive midfielder — and which, at Rovers, earned him the nickname The Honey Badger after team mates saw the ferocious creature featured in a wildlife documentary — is something he has also had to tap into off the field, particularly to help sustain him through some of the false dawns of his career.
“I think I’m a bit of a tough character, mentally,” he says.
“To be a footballer you have to have mental strength, not just ability. I’ve seen so many unbelievable football players — skilful, talented, young players — who just don’t have the mental strength to deal with setbacks, who aren’t able to make their own decisions and almost have to be held by the hand.
“I’m one of those players who thinks I can always do better. I set my standards really high and if I don’t reach them I’m very disappointed in myself.
“Every game is a new game and a new chance to get better. That’s the way I always look at it.”
Which is why, for all the success he enjoyed with City last year — even Caulfield, the man who was shrewd enough to sign him, had no qualms about describing him as “a revelation” in 2017 — McCormack will say only that “it was probably one of my better seasons” and then promptly enumerate the areas in which he thinks he can improve this time around.
“If I give the ball away stupidly or I make a bad decision on the ball or take too many touches or if I don’t look over my shoulder when I receive the ball, too many yellow cards — these are all things that I can cut out to improve me as a player.”
That philosophy of relentless self-improvement is one which it’s easy to see chiming with John Caulfield’s own passionate ambition for his team as they set out to defend their title.
“He’s a manager who expects his players to perform and when they don’t he’s not afraid to make changes,” McCormack observes.
“He’s not afraid to single you out either, he’ll take you aside if you’re not performing for him and for the team. And he gives you that bit of encouragement — or whatever it is you need — to get you back on track again.
“We were very successful last season but all that means is that going into this one everyone wants that feeling again. The manager’s brought in a few new faces as well and some of them haven’t won a trophy in their career and some of them have been in the league a long time.
"So they’re really hungry and it means more competition for places as well. No-one wants to drop the standards from last season so I’m pretty such there’ll be no complacency this year.”
I'd like to thank @ForasTrust for the POTY award last night 💚♥️ Great way for me to top off an unbelievable first season @CorkCityFC 🏆🏆 already buzzing for next season #CCFC84 pic.twitter.com/vJChUM5xgH
— Conor McCormack (@ConorMc22) November 18, 2017
As for McCormack, he’s the kind of footballer who simply doesn’t do friendlies, which is why he was never going to dismiss the value of last Sunday’s President’s Cup comeback victory over Dundalk as preparation for City’s Premier Division opener away to St Patrick’s Athletic.
“I know some people say it’s a Mickey Mouse trophy or see it as a friendly match but, look, any chance to win a trophy means it’s a competitive game for me,” he asserts.
“I know it wasn’t a league match or an FAI Cup match but that second half performance especially sets the standard for us, it shows what we can do. Not many teams go up and score four goals in one half in Oriel Park .”
But it wouldn’t be Conor McCormack if he didn’t also dwell on the bad stuff and, more to the point, the urgent need to take corrective action, starting in Inchicore tonight.
“We know the quality we have in the team and we just weren’t at the races in the first half on Sunday,” he says.
“It was like we were still stuck in the dressing room. And we know we’re not going to get away with that in the league. Usually we’re really good at starting games so that was an eye-opener for us.
"We know that as soon as the whistle blows tonight, we have to be right at it.”
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