Re building Cork senior footballers;

This is a decent account of what the future holds by Derek Daly in the Echo.

A YOUTHFUL and energetic Mayo scalped seven-in-a-row chasing Dublin in the recent All-Ireland semi-final in a performance that will have shown other counties what is possible with proper forward planning.

Mayo manager James Horan gave debuts to nine players in 2020 and still managed to steer Mayo to an All-Ireland final. Two of the crew that downed the Dubs, Michael Plunkett and Mattie Ruane, made their championship bows as recently as 2019, while 21-year old Enda Hession made his first start this summer.

That is a lot of players who would appear to be relatively new to championship, yet it was these fresh, young guns who were the side that ultimately halted the Dublin juggernaut in its tracks by being as big, as strong, as fit, and ultimately having more legs than Dessie Farrell’s side.

When David Clarke, Keith Higgins, Chris Barrett, Seamie O’Shea, Donal Vaughan, and Tom Parsons all stepped away en masse from the Mayo panel after last year’s final defeat to Dublin, it appeared to signal the end for Mayo as a serious championship team. That looked to be too many leaders and men to leave at once. And when star forward Cillian O’Connor suffered a season-ending injury it was almost certainly curtains for their hopes of ending 70 years without an All-Ireland.

It is nothing short of remarkable that Horan has completely transformed Mayo so quickly. There appeared to be no transition period at all.

New players came in and instantly performed at levels that are supposed to take a few seasons of strength and conditioning to reach.

And on closer inspection that is probably the point. This all has not happened by accident. Mayo’s young guns aren’t actually that young.

Of the 15 players who started against Dublin, only Eoghan McLaughlin can be considered a true youngster at 21. Attackers Tommy Conroy and Ryan O’Donoghue are 23, while two players who debuted in 2020, Padraig O’Hora and Darren McHale, are 28 and 27 respectively.

Yes, there are young players in the panel, with some of them being introduced off the bench, such as Enda Hession, Jordan Flynn, and Rory Brickenden, while 22-year-old Oisin Mullin would have started only for injury, but the fact is that the average age of this Mayo side is around the mid-20s mark, with only a few of the old stagers left, like Rob Hennelly, Lee Keegan, Aidan O’Shea, and Kevin McLoughlin.

It is quite obvious that all these players who have entered the fray for Mayo in 2020 and 2021 have endured a number of years of tailored S&C programming to get them to the required level. It is not a case of getting players onto a panel and then building them up. Mayo built them up first and then used them when they were ready.

A quick look at the current Cork football panel makes for an interesting comparison. There is, of course, the experienced core of the likes of Kevin O’Driscoll and Mark Collins (31), Brian Hurley, John O’Rourke and Ruairí Deane (29), Luke Connolly and Killian O’Hanlon (28), Ian Maguire and Mattie Taylor (27), but the majority of the panel are all around the 22 and 23 mark. The likes of Sean Powter and Kevin Flahive appear almost old at 24. The lack of experience is particularly notable in defence. In the routing by Kerry in this year’s Munster final, Cork had only one defender over the age of 25, in the form of Mallow’s Taylor. Against Dublin, Mayo only had one defender under that age.

Age is certainly not the be-all and end-all, but as Alan Hansen famously said “you win nothing with kids”, and for Cork football that adage appears to hold true.

All Cork supporters are aware that there is talent in the county, but they are also realistic to know that it might take a few years for this panel to mature to a level where they can compete Kerry, Mayo, and Dublin.

Part of that development is physical, part mental, and part of it is in terms of gaining the necessary experience that only age can bring. Given the Cork U20s’ recent provincial success, there will be calls for Diarmuid Phelan, Tommy Walsh, Jack Cahalane and David Buckley to be called up the senior ranks, and we can certainly expect to see a few of that panel to make the leap in the not too distant future.

The answer to Cork’s problems may be as much with time as with new personnel, as adding a few years on to the birth certs of the likes of Sean Meehan, Daniel O’Mahony, Brian Hartnett, and Cathail O’Mahony should see Cork having a mature core that can compete at the highest level.

Excellent article.

Thanks for posting, Ranty.

A thought struck me watching Tyrone at the weekend. Cork u20s beat them in the semi final in a 2019. In pretty sure that lad Canavan, Peters son, was playing that day. He set up the goal that put Tyrone ahead at the death on Sunday and I thought to myself, how many of that beaten Tyrone team were playing on Sunday, twould be an interesting comparsion

Tipp Ex wrote:A thought struck me watching Tyrone at the weekend. Cork u20s beat them in the semi final in a 2019. In pretty sure that lad Canavan, Peters son, was playing that day. He set up the goal that put Tyrone ahead at the death on Sunday and I thought to myself, how many of that beaten Tyrone team were playing on Sunday, twould be an interesting comparsion

There y'are now Tipp. 2.17 to 1-18 , Looks like the son of God is the only one of that lot to make the step up.
Quite a few of our lads have been promoted
Cork: J O’Keefe; M Mahoney, M Shanley, P Ring; G O’Donovan, S Meehan, P O’Driscoll; B Hartnett (0-1), D O’Connell; C Barrett (0-2), B Murphy, C O’Callaghan; M Cronin (1-2, 0-1 free), C O’Mahony (0-8, 0-4 frees), D Gore

Subs: E O’Hanlon (0-1) for O’Connell (28), J McCarthy for O’Donovan (34), J Murphy (1-0) for O’Callaghan (36), F Herlihy (0-2) for B Murphy (42), M Hodnett (0-1) for Mahoney (55)

Tyrone: L Quinn; A Clarke, C Quinn, P Mullan; C Grimes, A Fox, C Devlin; R Gormley, J Oguz; P Og McCartan (0-1), D Canavan (1-1), M McKearney; J Garrity (0-2), S Og McAleer (0-5, 0-2 frees), DT Quinn (0-6, 0-2 frees)

Subs: C Goodwin for Fox (9), E Jordan for McCartan (42), M Conroy (0-2, 0-1 free) for Quinn (48), M Murnaghan for Devlin (58)

Black card: Goodwin replaced by D McGuigan (29)

Yellow cards: Garrity (14), McAleer (38), Oguz (36&46), Conroy (55)

Red card: Oguz (46)

Shanley, Ring, Meehan, Hartnett, O Callaghan and O Mahoney.

Plus mark Cronin, Blake Murphy I think, gore, Daniel o’mahoney that’s 10 players from an u21 team some basis to build a team for the near future with, add in powter, flahive,Michael hurley,maguire,killian o’hanlon and you have the foundation of a serious team, now we need the management group to build this

Gore yes, but I don't think Mark Cronin or Blake Murphy have played on the senior team or been added to the panel. Daniel O Mahony not to be confused with his clubman Ml. Mahoney wasn't on the successful U20 team. Too young, but of all the above mentioned yet to be added he is without doubt our No 3 for years to come if he can be injury free. Big IF I'm afraid, judging by his short stints so far.

Christy O'Connor shooting the breeze

https://www.echolive.ie/corksport/arid-40700318.html?fbclid=IwAR3-uoN48veg45YYAWzRUN_EK9r2GQrIMvo7je7v7i68wQMDcbGBiO-SncA

Tipp Ex wrote:Christy O'Connor shooting the breeze

https://www.echolive.ie/corksport/arid-40700318.html?fbclid=IwAR3-uoN48veg45YYAWzRUN_EK9r2GQrIMvo7je7v7i68wQMDcbGBiO-SncA

Paper never refused ink and Christy isn't short of either.
Why he talks about Tomás is beyond me as he's now with Maughan in Offaly and will soon learn
that the gap between U 20 and senior football is more than he thought.
In any case, they are all in in for €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ and don't give 2 sh1ts about anything else.
I want the next boss man in Cork to be a die hard REBEL who knows how to talk to his team and place
them to their and our best advantage.   He won't suffer bullsh1tters or bluffers and he will have a team
around him all with Cork passports.
We don't want Kerrymen or any outside mercenaries to show us how good we can be.

The County Board is looking for applications for the job of Senior Football Manager. Now's your chance, fellows!

Isn't this a bit unusual for a voluntary role? Who's going to feel confident enough to say, I can do the job.

It might have been better if they asked for opinions about the Cork football team going forward and made an offer based on the replies.

NewCorkSeniorFootballManager

T. Leaf wrote:The County Board is looking for applications for the job of Senior Football Manager. Now's your chance, fellows!

Isn't this a bit unusual for a voluntary role? Who's going to feel confident enough to say, I can do the job.

It might have been better if they asked for opinions about the Cork football team going forward and made an offer based on the replies.

NewCorkSeniorFootballManager

I've been listening to several opinions on this all day and at this stage it's hard to know the answer.    
I agree with CCB for advertising the vacancy as it gives all aspiring candidates a licence to put their names forward.
Yes we know it's all voluntary, etc.etc. but it's a biggish job now and the new man is faced with lifting a big county
off it's knees after a number of disastrous years under a pathetic management team.
If they didn't advertise the position and head hunted somebody, they could and would be accused of nepotism or
favouring some candidate without seeing the bigger picture and perhaps missing somebody with good credentials.
Others are saying that the job is already filled and they are now looking for a coach to complete the team.
I don't believe that, but think it's likely that they have their beady eyes on somebody and he will of course be
prompted to hand in his CV.     That, my friends, is how things work in the real world.

Talks over along that the man has already been appointed along with most of his selectors

Tipp Ex wrote:Talks over along that the man has already been appointed along with most of his selectors

That's not true anyway, Tipp-Ex.

It may well prove to be right but it's not true that it's done, or anywhere near done come to that.

Time to give this topic a wee bump as we note with interest that the Duhallow man John Fintan Daly has 'publicly' thrown his hat into the ring.
Whether this announcement was prompted by journalist John Coleman or otherwise, we do not know.
A bit long in the tooth for this tough task IMHO but a strong CV no doubt.

JFD has to be considered in detail and hopefully the board will meet him to discuss his ambitions for the role/team. Would be interested to see who he plans to bring in with him because it’s the overall set up that needs to be right.

I'd have no problem with him. He's one of the best we have from within the county. He's a winner. Did he coach Miltown Castlemaine in Kerry? How did that go?

Tipp Ex wrote:I'd have no problem with him. He's one of the best we have from within the county. He's a winner. Did he coach Miltown Castlemaine in Kerry? How did that go?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMFvoj1hZnc&t=64s&ab_channel=KnocknagreeGAA

AIB All-Ireland Club Intermediate Football Championship Final – Milltown/Castlemaine (Kerry) 1-13 Davitts (Mayo) 1-6

I'm hearing Keith Ricken has thrown his hat in the ring at this point.
He has to be favourite now I would say

Tipp Ex wrote:I'm hearing Keith Ricken has thrown his hat in the ring at this point.
He has to be favourite now I would say

Pressure, apparently. I hope it ends well.

Keith Ricken allows name to go forward for vacant Cork job

T. Leaf wrote:

Tipp Ex wrote:I'm hearing Keith Ricken has thrown his hat in the ring at this point.
He has to be favourite now I would say

Pressure, apparently. I hope it ends well.

Keith Ricken allows name to go forward for vacant Cork job

Pressure from where T?
Surely he's either interested or not?
Wouldn't be my choice in any case but that's neither here nor there.

Ranty wrote:

T. Leaf wrote:

Tipp Ex wrote:I'm hearing Keith Ricken has thrown his hat in the ring at this point.
He has to be favourite now I would say

Pressure, apparently. I hope it ends well.

Keith Ricken allows name to go forward for vacant Cork job

Pressure from where T?    
Surely he's either interested or not?
Wouldn't be my choice in any case but that's neither here nor there.

Well, if clubs are telling you you should apply, then there's a certain amount of pressure. But, of course, newspapers have to have a story and he may have told the clubs that he doesn't want the job, so we may only know half the story.

How do you feel about John Fintan Daly? My brother  says he read an interview with him where he was asked about the success of his own club when he was manager. And his reply was that he banned hurling. That would put a negative tick against his name in my estimation.

T. Leaf wrote:

Ranty wrote:

T. Leaf wrote:

Tipp Ex wrote:I'm hearing Keith Ricken has thrown his hat in the ring at this point.
He has to be favourite now I would say

Pressure, apparently. I hope it ends well.

Keith Ricken allows name to go forward for vacant Cork job

Pressure from where T?    
Surely he's either interested or not?
Wouldn't be my choice in any case but that's neither here nor there.

Well, if clubs are telling you you should apply, then there's a certain amount of pressure. But, of course, newspapers have to have a story and he may have told the clubs that he doesn't want the job, so we may only know half the story.

How do you feel about John Fintan Daly? My brother  says he read an interview with him where he was asked about the success of his own club when he was manager. And his reply was that he banned hurling. That would put a negative tick against his name in my estimation.

I don't really know much about him other than knowing his record with Cork U21 way back and of course his success with Knocknagree and Milltown Castlemaine. He must have something about him but the encouragement needed to put a spring in the step of a country cabóg is unlikely to change the habits of a senior intercounty footballer. I could be all wrong of course and J F D might well be a new Mickey Harte .
I'm not a fan of this new 'hurling' which I don't watch unless a Cork team is playing, or should I say 'throwing'?
If J F D banned that stuff in Knocknagree he'd have my blessing but last time I looked there isn't a lot of ash around Knocknagree anyway so there wasn't any need to ban it.
I suspect there are a few others in the pipeline but that might be wishful thinking too.

So who are we at so for the job? Ricken and JFD, anyone else we know of?

Tipp Ex wrote:So who are we at so for the job? Ricken and JFD, anyone else we know of?

Wasn't Bobby O Dwyer mentioned day one ? His CV has an All Ireland minor title so he's not without a chance IMHO.

Is Ephie Fitzgerald still with the Ladies Football team? His CV isn’t a bad one.

From Wikkipedia:

Manager/coach

Nemo Rangers
Munster Senior Club football Championship (2): 2005, 2007
Cork Senior Club Football Championship (4): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

Ballylanders
Limerick Senior Club Football Championship (1): 2014

Cork Ladies
All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship (1): 2016
Ladies' National Football League (2): 2016, 2017

Also (also from Wikkipedia):

He has served as manager of the Cork minor team and coach of the Limerick senior team. In October 2014 Fitzgerald was appointed as a coach and a selector to the Clare senior team.

He’s certainly had a lot of experience and willingness.