To coincide with the Bord Gáis Energy GAA Hurling U-20 Provincial Championship Finals preview, Bord Gáis Energy announced two exclusive tours of Croke Park for Rewards Club customers with Cork's Brian Corcoran, pictured, and Kilkenny's Eddie Brennan.
By Michael Devlin
There would have been plenty who were pleasantly surprised at how Cork footballers acquitted themselves against Dublin in Croke Park on Saturday evening.
They’d have been impressed with how they hurtled out of the traps and stayed within reach for the majority of the game before succumbing, like so many teams before them, to the trademark Dublin score surge that ultimately resulted in a somewhat unfair 13-point winning margin.
There are others though that will take no pride in valour, and who will see that gap for what it is, a 13-point loss. Rebels legend Brian Corcoran belongs to the latter set.
“Look it, at least they competed against Kerry so they were coming with a game plan and a little bit of confidence, but they were still beaten by 13 points and they’re not going to be happy about that. Nobody in Cork wants a moral victory or whatever.
“I know the conversation was beforehand, that if we can run them to so many points but anybody who’s playing inter-county, who has a bit of pride - moral victories don’t count for much. It’s great that Cork ran Dublin for so long but look, they still lost for 13 points and that’s a fair beating in inter-county football. There’s still a lot of work to do.”
Niall Scully scores Dublin's third goal, despite the efforts of Cork defender Kevin O’Donovan, in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final Group 2 Phase 1 at Croke Park on Saturday evening.
Cork are five days from another Croker outing, a showdown with Tyrone where defeat would almost definitely end all hopes of progress to the last four. The lowest ranked team in the last eight following their relegation to Division Three earlier in the year, the likelihood of turning over the five-in-a-row chasing Dubs was always going to be extremely slim.
Mickey Harte’s side are formidable but not infallible, and Corcoran believes Cork must address the manner of which they allowed Dublin to run in five goals to have any chance of victory this Saturday.
“I think it was the goals that killed them. There were a few goals when Dublin just waltzed through. I think the tactical decision to concede possession to Dublin off the kickouts and I think they’re going to have to look at that because if you’re handing Dublin the ball and allowing them to run at you. They’re going to, you might defend it for a while but when the legs get tired towards the end of a game, you become literally run ragged.
“Tyrone have a different style of play to Dublin, but I thought basically sitting back and allowing Cluxton free kick-outs to the Dublin team - you’re almost giving them an early advantage to come attack us - as opposed to competing for them and making it more difficult. I think they’re going to have to look at that for Tyrone because some of the Dublin goals were just too easy. They’re going to have to look at how they stop those gaps.”
Corcoran in action for Cork footballers in 1998.
Speculation about Cork football can continue for three more weekends at least. Hurling interest though is parked for the year following Sunday’s quarter-final defeat to Kilkenny.
It was an afternoon when Brian Cody’s men rose to the occasion and delivered a stirring second half performance to run out six points winners to which, according to Corcoran, Cork can have no complaints.
“Kilkenny were the better team. The first 15 or 20 minutes of the second half was disappointing. Kilkenny took control of the game, turned us over and got ahead. The lads tried valiantly to get back into it and got close enough. It was disappointing.
“Having lost semi-finals for the last two years, the hope was they’d go further this year, but it wasn’t to be. That’s the thing about it. It’s so competitive between the top teams, at quarter-final or semi-final stage, you can’t afford a poor performance, or to go out of the game for a 15 or 20 minute spell, and they ultimately paid the price for it.”
Brian Corcoran runs past the Liam McCarthy cup before the start of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final between Galway and Cork in 2005.
Another year, another case of the Croke Park jitters perhaps? It’s been 2013 since Cork tasted victory at GAA headquarters, but Corcoran doesn’t believe in any 'mental block' theory surrounding the venue for the county.
“I think every player wants to be here. If you asked the guys [on Sunday] would they prefer to play Kilkenny down in Nowlan Park or in Thurles or here [Croke Park], I think most guys would say here because this is where you want to be on the big occasion.
“I’m not sure it’s a mental block with the stadium but maybe it’s a belief or lack of belief or confidence, are we really going to be good enough to win it? You saw Saturday night with the Dubs in the football, they just believed they were going to win it, no matter how far Cork went ahead, they just believed they were going to come back and they did. There’s just that confidence and belief that they can do it.
“So, I think whether you call it a mental block or a lack of belief, you need to push through that. Ultimately, if you don’t believe you’re going to do it, the chances are you’re not going to do it.”
An over-reliance on Patrick Horgan is a more tangible explanation to Cork’s recent Championship woes according to Corcoran. The Glen Rovers man scored 3-10 of his side’s 3-18 total in what will go down as one of the great individual hurling performances in recent times. Brilliance that was ultimately futile.
“Everyone is talking about what a great game he had, and he had a fantastic game, but if he wasn’t there we would have been well beaten and that’s the problem. He got a couple of goals that most other guys wouldn’t have got and a couple of points that most others wouldn’t have got, so if he wasn’t there, it would have been a much wider margin of loss.”
Cork's Patrick Horgan battles against Kilkenny's Huw Lawlor during Sunday's All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final at Croke Park.
That mesmerising display did add some cement to Horgan’s claim as the greatest hurler ever without an All-Ireland medal. Now 31, his performances in recent years do not suggest any severe rate of depreciation, but time is running out to take himself off the list of Celtic Cross searchers.
Corcoran himself came out of retirement to win two of his three All Irelands while in his thirties, and he doesn’t believe Horgan’s chances of being mentioned in the same breath as the likes of the great Christy Ring will be damaged should he ultimately miss out on climbing the Hogan Stand steps. In fact, Corcoran regards Horgan as Cork’s greatest, and will eventually join the same pantheon as Ring one way or the other.
“Obviously an All-Ireland medal is great to have. There was a Cork-Waterford charity game there a couple of months ago between the teams of 15/20 years ago. You were dealing with the Waterford lads, the likes of Ken McGrath, Dan Shanahan, Tony Browne and these guys who didn't win an All-Ireland when they were close so many times. Does that affect their legacy or make them lesser hurlers? Looking back on it I don't think so, they were still great players.
**“**Hoggie, coming from Cork, he will be very unfortunate that his career came in that 15 or 16 year period when Cork didn’t win an All-Ireland, but I think he is without a shadow of a doubt, people talk about Ring - obviously I didn’t see Ring but in terms of artists, stick-work, skill, wrist work - I don’t think there’s been a better Cork hurler than him.
“Does he need an All-Ireland to prove that? Obviously, it would be great for his sake but I still think he will go down as one of the best Cork players ever. There’s very few guys who can strike a ball as well as Patrick Horgan.”