10 Munster under-21 titles in the last 14 years.
Cork are no duds.
Two under-21 All-Irelands in 2007 and 2009.
All-Ireland senior football champions just seven years ago.
What the hell has happened to Cork GAA?
Tomás Ó Sé doesn’t know. During his rant about the decline of the Rebel county, he rhymed off top class underage talent and concluded:
“I don’t, for the life of me, understand how Cork can’t blend a team…”
In a way though, they’re sitting in a lovely position going into this Munster football final on July 2. Nobody is expecting anything of them – not within the county, not outside of it – and nobody will blame them if they lose to All-Ireland contenders Kerry.
But, listen, they’re still Cork and if any team wants any vantage point going into any game, it is to be lying in the long grass waiting to ambush some poor outfit unsuspectingly.
The grass is so long around Cork right now that you’d think they’re buried in a forest.
If their fans needed something to drag them from apathy though – anything to cling onto – it’s that the Kerry boys haven’t forgotten the face that the Leesiders are still their fierce enemies and that they’re still – even through all the shit – Cork.
“I’m not really concerned [at how they’re being portrayed] because we know Cork and we never take them for granted,” Donnchadh Walsh told SportsJOE when asked about the press Kerry’s opposition are receiving and whether or not that can galvanise them.
“Even though people might be writing them off, we absolutely know that’s when Cork are most dangerous.
“They’ll be disappointed with their first half performance the last day [against Tipperary] but they really kicked into gear there in the second half.
“They’re just a win away from really getting the ball rolling for them.
“They’re going to be so hungry for a win against us that there’ll be no complacency on our part.”
Selfless words tell you everything you need to know about Donnchadh Walsh https://t.co/Bu8O0X8Wy0
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 19, 2017
Then again, Donnchadh Walsh isn’t a man to stir up rivalries in the media. When asked about Clare, he was just as kind.
“We would have big respect for Clare. They’re a Division Two team now, they’ve taken some big scalps in Division Two and we knew even from 2014 when we went up to Ennis, we didn’t have it all our own way.
“We played them twice last year and we got over them both times but they put up a big score against us in the Munster championship.
“We do have big respect for Clare. They definitely are an improving team.”
Stark contrast to what Paul Galvin said about Clare just last summer.
“We love beating Tipp because we felt that they always needed to be beaten – keep them down there. Honest to God,” Galvin told The GAA Hour.
“They’re different to Clare. Clare will come along and there will be a bit of bravado about Clare but there wouldn’t be much behind it you felt. You always felt that it was a bit false with Clare.”
