These lads mean business.
Cuala reached the peak of club hurling when they won the All-Ireland senior Championship last year. It’s often said that the club Championship are one of the toughest competitions to retain.
Just think about it, after winning the biggest prize in the club game, after after coming through titanic battles in the county, in the provincial Championship and then in the All-Ireland, after all the training – You must feel as if you’ve reached a peak.
“Can it get much better?
“Is it worth doing it all over again?”
Any team who wins a club All-Ireland has been on the road for almost 15 months, and after the decider in March, they’re almost straight back into the thick of it again with league games, while their inter-county panellists are in the midst of it.
Some teams struggle with it, and that’s why Portumna are the only team in the last ten years to retain the Tommy Moore cup.
Any questions about Cuala’s commitment, about their hunger, and their drive for success were quelled in the early rounds of the Dublin Championship, when they came out the other side of some teak tough games in which they were put to the pin of their collar.
They appeared hungrier than ever last weekend when they accounted for Kilmacud Crokes in the county final, and even more so again when dispatching of Dicksboro in the Leinster quarter-final on Sunday.
The best thing about Cuala – they are a team in the finest sense of the word. There are no real stars, there are no luxury players.
Their work-rate from 1-15 is ferocious, their ability to link up with each other is something few other teams can come close to.
All their players seem to be on the same wavelength at all times. When they’re tackling, there’s two or three lads hounding the opposition down together. When they’re on the ball, they, crucially, look for the simple pass, take the simple option, and show again to support each other.
They are full of willing runners, and these runners are rewarded because teammates barely ever takes silly, selfish, ‘Hail Mary’ shots. If you make a good run, you will be found with a pass.
It’s teamwork, and it’s instilled in each and every one of them.
Their lively midfielder Darragh O’Connell embodies this style of play better than anyone. He tracks back, and often gains possession deep in his back line. He bursts out with the ball, links up with half backs, with midfielders, orchestrates one-two passing moves and brings them from back to front so quickly.
Then you’ve the likes of Colm Cronin, that tireless workhorse up front who selflessly involves all the other forwards.
Con O’Callaghan’s 45th minute goal was a product of this team play – with five players linking up and giving the ball to a man in a better postion.
Colm Cronin, as always, was working hard and intercepted a loose Dicksboro pass.
He was quickly bottled up by two defenders, but he had a man in support offering himself.
Again, corner forward Colum Sheanon was put under tight pressure, but he knew he’d have a man in support and he let it off, instead of holding on, and possibly being caught for steps.
Nicky Kenny bursted onto the ball, and from here, most corner forwards would have taken the easy option of slotting it over the bar.
He smelled blood, he played a pass to teammate Sean Treacy, because he was in a better position.
Moran, again, had the opportunity to tap it over, but no, he proceeded to give the simple ball again, with Jake Malone bearing down on goal inside him.
There was nothing too complicated up to now – Four simple layoff hand-passes.
Without breaking trend, Malone realises O’Callaghan was in a better position to finish the goal than him, and selflessly played it across to set up an open goal.
The young footballer of the year wasn’t going to miss from there.
Five handpasses and bang.
There were so many examples of this in Parnell Park on Sunday. You will rarely see a Cuala player make a hasty, rushed decision on the ball, and the full-time highlights of the game show this so well.
If you look at Con O’Callaghan’s opening score, he could have taken a shot from 50 mts, from 40 mts, but he stayed striding forward, perhaps waiting for a better option to emerge.
It didn’t and he takes a simple score, but that’s what they’re about, exploiting every opportunity that comes their way.
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Cuala’s half forward Sean Treacy made an interception deep in his own half back line in the 58th minute. Rather than driving it aimlessly down the field, he worked it out of the area calmly.
With a handpass again, he sent Colm Cronin free.
Cronin could easily have tapped it over himself, but he chose to give a pass – highlighting that it must be drilled into them from manager Mattie Kenny to find a teammate in a better position.
Sub Niall Carty made the run, and he was rewarded with a pinpoint pass, and an easy score.
Simply does it.
