Cork manager Peadar Healy has called on the elder statesmen in the panel to remain on in the wake of today’s All-Ireland qualifier defeat to Donegal, writes John Fogarty.
Acknowledging his team as being in transition, he said: “I suppose today would be encouraging, but we needed more consistent performances throughout the championship and throughout the national league as well and we didn’t have them.
“It’s a team in transition, let’s be honest. We would hope that the older players, the likes of Alan O’Connor and Daniel Goulding, would stay on, because they need to be around these young fellas when they grind their teeth, as the man says.”
Healy confirmed he will aim to persuade Alan Cadogan and Aidan Walsh to line out with the footballers next year but said he can’t entertain the idea of them playing hurling as well.
“Personally, I think they can’t do it, it’s impossible to do it. You could see yourself now today, if we had (Alan) Cadogan and Aidan Walsh for another two or three months, some of the basic skills, the turnovers they gave away, that wasn’t happening with the other 13 players around them.
“To be fair, they came on and Aidan made a major contribution. I think it was the turnovers, you can’t turn the ball over to Donegal here. They did well to come on.”
Healy admitted some of the criticism heaped on Cork this year following their relegation to Division 2 and Munster semi-final loss to Tipperary was difficult to take. “The Cork supporters, they’re tough boys to please. We’ve taken a lot of criticism, Peadar Healy would be very critical of Peadar Healy, that’s for sure.
“It’s human nature, it’s the game we’re in, there are 31 counties not going to win an All-Ireland, they’re going to have the same problem. Cork being Cork, we are Cork like and that’s it, there’s no mercy. It’s the game we’re in, that’s it and we all know it.”
He did take some comfort from having given youth its head. “If you want to take a positive out of it, we asked the boys for a performance here and I think they gave us that.
We blooded how many players, start with [Ryan] Price and work your way through the team. It was Tom (Clancy) Clon’s first championship game in Croke Park, Michael Hurley, (Seán) Powter, Stephen Cronin, go into the forwards, Peter Kelleher, it was his first time in Croke Park.
“It isn’t all doom and gloom either, it was a good experience for them. We just needed more consistent performances like today, if we had more of that throughout the year, we’d have had a better year.”
