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A lot done, more to do

GAELIC GAMES: IAN O'RIORDAN talks to Cork manager Conor Counihan whose ambitions have not been fully satisfied by last year’…

Sat Nov 27 2010 - 00:00

GAELIC GAMES: IAN O'RIORDANtalks to Cork manager Conor Counihan whose ambitions have not been fully satisfied by last year's All-Ireland success

FOR A man who has endured a fairly high-pressure year, Conor Counihan was understandably relaxed and mostly blasé about this afternoon’s annual All Star football challenge. The Cork manager takes charge of the 2010 selection in name and that’s about it.

In fact, Down manager James McCartan, who takes charge of the 2009 team, admitted he’ll be positioning players on the basis of whatever numbered jersey he happens to pull out his kit bag. Truth is there’s nothing at all serious about this afternoon’s game, which takes place in the fairly plush Royal Selangor Club in the heart of Kuala Lumper, although it’s not without some significance.

Host club Orang Eire – which is named after that famously furry animal native to Malaysia, the Orang-utan – has attracted 100 members in its three short years of existence, and for them, the All Stars game is a very big deal.

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For Counihan, however, it’s another small reward for the success of 2010, which began with a National League title, and ended with that highly coveted and long-awaited All-Ireland football title.

“Sure, there is still a great sense of relief about it all,” said Counihan, in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza hotel. “Twenty years is a long time. I never imagined it would be that long. It is a great sense of satisfaction now for everyone involved and I suppose relief is the big thing as well. So we’ll enjoy the few weeks now and get back to work in January.”

Counihan took a bit of time before recommitting for 2011, and reckoned it was the players’ desire for him to stay on that ultimately sealed his decision: “You certainly would be tempted to leave on a winning note. There is a lot of pressure in the job.

“But at the same time I probably felt having listened to the players over the last number of weeks that maybe we can perform a bit better than we did last year. That is the big incentive – knowing that guys want to do more now. Saying that is one thing, getting fellas around and getting them out to do that is another. We have to see how fellas react in the New Year.

“You’d like to think there is more in the team. Certainly in some of our performances we left ourselves very close in a lot of games, the semi-final and the final in particular. And we are under no illusions that we are up there now to be knocked. Everyone will be well motivated when facing us.

“Maybe teams didn’t have that edge in the past playing us but now certainly. When you are up there it is a difficult challenge but we have to rise to that.”

Looking back now, Counihan still reckons losing to Kerry in the Munster semi-final did more good than harm, as it forced Cork to dig deeper into their reserves than perhaps they would have done through the so-called front door.

“We knew that over the two games against Kerry we were probably a bit unlucky to lose. So we knew that we were still there and well in the pack. As it worked out, the back door worked well for us. We found out a bit about ourselves with some tough battles whether it was in Limerick or Wexford or wherever.

“So we found out a bit more about ourselves whereas in previous years we wouldn’t have found out as much. We were straight into the quarter-finals. This year we had more competitive games on a continuous basis. That helped us keep the edge.

“But with the exception of Derek Kavanagh, who has retired due to injury, everyone is sticking around. But we know what happened last year is history and that is the way we will be looking at it.”

2010 ALL STAR TEAM: Brendan McVeigh (Down); Philip McMahon (Dublin), Justin McMahon (Tyrone), Charlie Harrison (Sligo); Paudie Kissane (Cork), Dan Gordon (Down), Joe McMahon (Tyrone); Paddy Keenan (Louth), Aidan Walsh (Cork); Martin Clarke (Down), Paul Kerrigan (Cork), David Kelly (Sligo); Bernard Brogan (Dublin), Benny Coulter (Down), Cathal Cregg (Roscommon). Sub: Donncha O’Connor (Cork).

2009 ALL STAR TEAM: Alan Quirke (Cork); Karl Lacey (Kildare), Michael Shields (Cork), John O’Brien (Louth); Ryan McMenamin (Tyrone), Kevin McKernan (Down), John Miskella (Cork); Nicholas Murphy (Cork); Séamus Scanlon (Kerry); Leighton Glynn (Wicklow), Pearse O’Neill (Cork), Joe Sheridan (Meath); Daniel Goulding (Cork), Donal Shine (Roscommon), Michael McCann (Antrim).