Cork Hurlers Out

20th Jul 2009

Cork Hurlers Out


My moma told me there'd be days like this. Van Morrison's classic accompanied by a montage of slow motion images of dejected Cork players and fans might have been appropriate at half eight last Saturday night after our defeat by Galway. Unfortunately RTE don't do tear-jerking pieces like that in mid-July. The hurling championship has barely kicked off and Cork are already hanging up their hurleys.

Those of us who walked through a damp dirty Thurles on the way back to our cars noticed the unusual silence. Soggy Saturdays in the Tipperary capital have never been as uplifting as sunshine Sundays.

Hard to see Galway beating KK but we wish them well.

The listless defeat to Tipp in the qualifiers two years ago comes to mind - another miserable night on every front. It's worse this time though. We're out and July is barely in double figures.

A few positive heads perked up like curious toads in a hole as we hoarded our way back to the square.

Sure there's the football anyway…
Yeah 'suppose.

More silence please. We're not ready for that talk yet. Everyone quietly asking themselves the same million-euro question that follows playing the football card.

Are we getting better or are Kerry getting weaker? The tannoy at Semple was our uninvited phone-a-friend: The Kingdom narrowly escaped defeat in Kilarney by a point. To Sligo. More rain.

It's not our job to analyse where Cork went wrong or how Galway went right. You have and will be subjected to vociferous opinions about tactics, hunger, half-forward lines, strikes, death-threats, Aussie rules, chicken-dinners but take it on the chin and step back from it before you form your own opinion.

2008 and 2009 marches: not in vain

We all know Cork didn't deserve to lose by such a big margin and who knows what might have happened if Niall MacCarthy had powered the sliothar another inch to his right and bagged that open goal. The rest of the Cork team were so stunned he missed it took them three Galway points to gather themselves and by then the show was over.

Even the most avid Tribesman would admit that without Joe Canning Galway could be Christy Ring Cup material. If the young fella keeps playing until he is thirty-five and Galway win an All-Ireland every year until he retires they will still be well short of Cork's historical haul. But good luck to them. You couldn't wish an All-Ireland on a more inoffensive county.

On the terrace at half time, any hurling fan worth their salt knew we weren't looking at potential All-Ireland champions. This wasn't like Cork and Kerry in Killarney or the replay down the Pairc. It was messy. Scrappy. Bitty. Fighty. But there was Shane O'Neill and by God was there Donal Óg.

How did he save that rasper from Canning in the first half? How could any intelligent well-educated man volunteer to stand in front of a high velocity missle with no protection but a wooden stick and still manage to deflect it? He did it again in the second half when Cadogan made a rare mistake and let Galway's 'Flame of Hope' through for a clear shot. Despairingly the deflection fell to a Galway hand. The End.

Papa Johns: the Thurles economy dips along with Cork's hurling prospects

It's a bit strange being a Cork hurling fan these days. You spend four months reading and listening to off-the-field squabbles. You spend long winter evenings debating the rights and wrongs of development squads, protests, Donal Óg, Frank Murphy and the GPA.

Then the hurling actually starts. Barely six weeks later it stops again. A strange one for the books.

Many will look for a scapegoat - or a subject just to let off steam: the county board executive, the players, the coaches, underage structures, the state of Pairc Úi Chaoimh, rugby, chicken-gate, the recession…the list goes on.

There are a few truths though. Denis Walsh had only a fraction of the time of other managers to decide on his first fifteen and suitable tactics, Frank Murphy didn't stop Niall McCarthy scoring that goal, and Gerald MacCarthy might have done worse or better than his successor. Most importantly, the winter marches were not in vain and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Many secretly enjoying the negativity will say that the players just aren't there. It's hard to agree when you see the likes of Conor O'Sullivan and Shane O'Neill. The younger guns need to be prepared and sharpened for battle by the experts. Just look at Wicklow and Mick O'Dwyer.

Two things no longer up for discussion: Cork hurling and Des's hair dye.

What we need is for every Corkonian to do his job to the best of his ability and in the best interests of Cork winning All-Irelands in the long term. Everyone needs to pull in the same direction.

As a county we're sufficiently well-stocked with Celtic Crosses and All-Stars to be able to work out how best to restore the 'natural order'. There's more than enough hurling brains down here to be able to work out a way to pick Kilkenny's current lock on Liam McCarthy.

As we exit the championship earlier the debate about Cork hurling nationally declines. No big GAA county likes to be a footnote on the Sunday Game: a few token sentences from the analysts before they talk about 'the last six'. The type of fluff reserved for the Carlow's and Louth's of this world: the brand of disillusioned souls who barely know what county they live in not to mind what colour their county teams wear.

The difference is huge. Cork is undeniably the greatest GAA county - with more titles combined than any other. We've had bad spells before and we'll have them again in the future. We're having one in hurling right now.

But just as we've had bad spells we'll have good ones too. Be absolutely sure of that. And in the meantime while there's 'days like this' there's always the football to enjoy.