Five-time All-Ireland winner Tomás Ó Sé has called for a complete overhaul of Cork football following their round four qualifier loss to Tyrone on Saturday.
The Rebels slumped to a 16-point loss to miss out on the inaugural Super 8s while they have not won a Munster Senior Football Championship since 2012.
Ó Sé, who has played club football with Nemo Rangers since 2015, has called for Cork to set up a separate county board for football in an attempt to try and place more of an emphasis on the county’s footballing efforts.
"I don't think there is the desire to drive the football as much as hurling" – Tomás Ó Sé on Cork's football woes #rtegaa #SundayGame pic.twitter.com/pYB4gMeaAh
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 8, 2018
“Cork are not a football county in my eyes,” Ó Sé said on The Sunday Game.
“They have great clubs like Nemo Rangers and St Finbarr’s. At county level they haven’t had success like other GAA superpowers have had. If the Cork hurlers were beaten by 17 points by Tipperary and then got another thumping by another team, say Kilkenny, there would be absolute war.
“There is a culture down there of things being half acceptable for the footballers. The current squad lack belief, they lack arrogance. I see Stephen Cronin when he plays for Nemo but he’s not the same player when he plays for Cork.
“I see a hurling county. There’s a stronghold over in east Cork, it’s hurling country. West Cork was always a football country and then you have over in east Cork they’re dominating football at underage level.
“Their teams are winning at underage level yet when they come to a certain age they’re told hurling is your sport and that’s it.”
Ó Sé also called for somebody within the county to step up and take control of football and that there needs to be a desire to drive football as hard as hurling.
“Somebody has has to stand up. There’s always a slight thought inside that they’re a hurling county board. Set up another county board,” Ó Sé added.
“There are very good footballing people in Cork but I don’t know if there is the desire to drive the football as hard as there is the hurling.”
