GRAHAM CANTY puts out fires. If a manager needs to contain a guy like Barry Hall or Kieran Donaghy, he goes to the Cork captain.

As half-time approached in last year's All-Ireland final, a fatal decision was made to release Canty from his tussle with the imposing Kerry full forward to curtail Colm Cooper. The Gooch had claimed a wonder goal and was scorching a path through the Cork rearguard.

Canty got to work. But before he could plug any more holes, the final was over as a contest, Donaghy claiming two goals once freed of the Bantry man's shackles. The Kingdom secured back-to-back All-Irelands for the first time since the great Cork side of 1989-90.

The ignominy of it all was etched on the players' faces out in Citywest hotel the following morning. Surely, it couldn't get any worse?

Seven months on and the landscape has been changed utterly by internal dispute, while Kerry remain on course for the three-in-a- row.

Cork manager Billy Morgan is gone, the first victim of a three-month stand-off between the county board and players.

Canty, as a senior player, found himself in the middle of the dispute. For a time, this valued servant feared for his future in a Cork jersey.

"Things weren't looking great in the middle of February. There was a chance if you didn't play football this year then you wouldn't play anymore for Cork. If you are out of football for a year you are very lucky if you can come back into it, (what with) form and injury and everything. There was a chance you wouldn't play for Cork again.

"There was kind of a huge hole inside when you thought about it. You try to put it to the back of your mind and just try to make sure everything was worked out. Thanks be to God it was."

Naturally, we sought further information from someone entrenched in the year's biggest GAA story, thus far.

"It was great that Padraic Duffy took time out of his busy schedule to come down and help us. Kieran Mulvey (the mediator) went out of his way as well. It meant we were able to get back on track.

"I don't think there were any huge winners out of it. You are that far behind every other inter-county team, but what you want is a set-up were you have a chance of winning silverware for Cork. That's what we wanted and I think that's what we have now. Everyone - the players, the county board - are all looking forward to moving on and putting it all behind us and driving on for the betterment of hurling and football in the county."

So all is well and the internal wounds are healing on the Rebel front.

But what of that traumatic All-Ireland defeat? How can a team possibly recover?

"The couple of months after were tough. You just have to learn from it. You don't just forget about it and throw it away. You have to learn from the mistakes we made. That's what we'll be trying to do this year."

Canty was also encouraged by the new management team, led by Conor Counihan. "If you think of Conor playing, it is his mental toughness. The steel that he had. I think that's what he has brought to our set-up. Just a bit of toughness that you need when you play inter-county."

So, Canty leads the Cork footballers into a year of atonement. All going well he will travel down to Australia in October for the International Rules, perhaps to renew his epic 2003 battle with the giant Sydney Swan Barry Hall.

"Any time you are asked to play for Ireland you jump at the opportunity to throw your name into the hat and see how it goes. I'm delighted to see it back again. A lot of people have done a lot of hard work in the background."

But first things first.