Here Comes the Summer

27th Jul 2007

Here Comes the Summer
Finbarr Barry

Heading for the last weekend in July with more headlines about flash floods than any inkling of a heat wave, those promising days in June panned out your back garden after coming home from work are now a distant memory.

His mean and keen his name is Joe Deane. More machine than feen he's any teams dream and is Cork to his spleen. Noreen.

Apparently it's to do with some jet stream air flow 36,000 feet above us that normally runs from Central America up towards Iceland but this year, it has drooped down towards Spain instead.

This is like some sort of highway for the low pressure weather systems we are being bombarded with. Meanwhile lifeguards at Cork's beaches twiddle their thumbs, shares in ice-cream companies are plummeting and our complexions are getting more pasty by the day.

On the hurling field the highs haven't exactly been reigning supreme either. The first bout of stormy weather against Waterford was half expected and despite the loss, just like rumours of dolphin sightings outside the harbour the performance hinted the approach of a heat wave.

Dublin and Offaly both sizzled in the space of a week in the build up to what was expected to be the start of some real Rebel high pressure hurling.

Much like the rumbling dark clouds that rained down on Semple Stadium after the final whistle against Tipp last Saturday week however, this (albeit single point) loss was an unexpected mid-season upset. Championship sun lotions had been barley uncorked and suddenly it was time for the rain coat again.

Many generations have their own ideas about the official start of summer. Some say it's the first of May, some go with solstices, harvests and Bona night, while others watch birds returning home…from last minute deals in Santa Ponza.

There's little Ger Mac can do now only wait.

All theories have been torn up this year with one of the most miserable grey depressing Limerick-esque summers in years. However, the Peoples Republic of Cork calendar has one last date in mind that will signal whether or not there is to be a "Summer 2007".

Unlike the weather, which we have no say in, the people of Cork can control the outcome of the unofficial summer solstice next Sunday afternoon in Croke Park with their presence.

If Cork's gallant hurlers can overcome the turbulent challenge of Munster Champions Waterford then the clouds will roll back and that red raw Rebel sun will shine down on the Promised Land and bring a smile to every Corkonian's sun starved face regardless of what some jet stream rains down on us.

The Deise have, deservedly, pipped us twice this year. Their much maligned forwards have finally clicked and Justin McCarthy's system of constantly rotating his front men through out the game no longer appears like something Steve Staunton would have come up with on the back of packet of painkillers on his way to Lansdowne Road.

Nobody has any doubts about Cork's ability to beat Waterford. The tightness of both loses shows how little there is between the teams. Many of the seasoned Rebels who might have had doubts cast over their 2007 involvement showed that their first touch has been as deft as it has ever been.

Here comes the summer. If the Deise get the upper hand it'll be rain til next May.

Unlike other teams, when a fast and low sliothar skids along a slippery surface at 70mph towards its intended target you can be pretty sure the Cork forward is going to gather it and continue the attack.

More often than not, you can still be sure that a ball plummeting from a seventy feet on a chaotic scene of clambering bodies somewhere in front of Donal Óg Cusack's goal will be safely disposed of by somebody wearing a red shirt.

However in recent years, the trump card in Cork's deck was their resistance to panic. In the heat of the battle with the clock down to single figures and an accompanying scoreboard deficit, you could always be sure an O'Connor, a Corcoran or a Deane would pop up and crush the underdog at the last minute - a resolve to refuse to panic and to vehemently yet silently maintain hunger and passion to win.

For years this resolve was exclusive to Cork. The trouble is, Justin Mac has now taught Waterford to do the same. The enemy has learned our secrets and we have lost recent battles but the biggest one is coming on Sunday and we can still win the war.

Ironically, the pressure is on the boys in blue. They've had two Munster titles in the last four years but nothing at national level. It's kill or be killed. Let there be no doubt that while Cork might have liked a stroll against Wexford, Waterford will certainly not enjoy the thought of squaring up to a team hell bent on revenging their Munster semi-final defeat.

The Deise's record in Thurles is good but they more than anyone else know that the Croke Park cauldron is their perpetual stumbling ground. If Waterford are beaten by Cork on Sunday evening, it may break them psychologically for the next ten years so this isn't about one summer, it's about addressing long term issues like term global warming and manky summers.

There's a storm coming and all hands are needed on deck - that includes yours. Make the journey to Dublin this Sunday, clothe yourself in red and roar on the Rebels. Anyone absent claiming the team was lacking hunger and commitment should pre-empt the irony.

You don't want to be stuck at home looking at vacant Croker seats, feeling helpless screaming at your brand new forty-two inch plasma. Be there and join in every chant. Send out a roar for every Cork move and encourage those around you to join you doing irreversible long-term damage to your voice box. It'll be worth it.

Here comes the summer.

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