WITH a hectic Christmas now in the rear-view mirror and 2025 full of new possibilities, it’s time to look back at the year that was 2024. Here is my warts-and-all summation of all things Cork football from 2024. The good, the bad and the downright ugly.
THE GOOD
Cork club championships: In the absence of inter-county success, the jewel in the crown for Cork GAA is the success of the new club championships, both in hurling and football, these past few seasons. From the end of July to October, our pitches around the county bounce with the sounds of leather being kicked, hurls clashing, bodies straining every muscle and crowds agonising and celebrating. The recent overwhelming endorsement by the players involved for the new systems and structures is indicative of how much better life is for club players in Cork now versus the old days of total fixture chaos.
The restructuring of the competitions has been as important as the defined championship window, as each team within the county starts to find their appropriate level. While there may be three senior football teams out in front as things stand, at every other level games are being decided by a score or two almost all the time, certainly when the knockout stages come. We can always tweak and make adjustments such as the extra rest week for dual clubs and the revised seeding systems, but the club scene is thriving right now. Long may it continue.
A sunny afternoon at Flower Lodge: The peak of the summer for Cork football supporters was on the first day of June in Páirc Uí Rinn when Jim McGuinness and his Ulster champions came to Leeside for a Sam Maguire group game. It was intriguing to watch the new version of McGuinness’ Donegal in the flesh as their new-found desire to attack in numbers was exposed by Cork’s counter-attacking system. Matty Taylor’s thrilling run and finish was the highlight of a first half where Cork hung on to Donegal coat-tails, before two second-half goals in as many minutes from Sean Powter and Rory Maguire gave Cork enough of a cushion to weather a late Donegal onslaught.
With four points in the bag, Cork were assured of progression to the final 12, however little did we know or care in those moments in the sun when the crowd surged on to the pitch in delight, that this was as good as it would get for Cork in 2024. With Cork football, it’s often brightest just before the dark, and so it would prove again when we looked to build on this result.
Rise of Kilmurry: The Kerry dominance of the Munster club championships is a sore point for yours truly, as it has been achieved by stacking the cards unfairly in their own favour, yet one Cork club managed to land a blow for Cork club football with success in the Munster junior club championship. Victory over Firies in December saw only the ninth Munster club title claimed by either the junior or intermediate champions from the Rebel County. Little did I think when we won our third such medal in a row in 2005 that we would have one third of Cork’s total almost 20 years later.
Standardisation of the competitions across the counties is a must for the administrators for the coming years, as the GAA prides itself with equality of opportunity amongst many other things. Even if Kerry don’t want to change, and that is their right, Cork should lobby that the senior A and premier intermediate champions be allowed to progress. After all, it is only something as arbitrary as the name of the competition preventing this from happening. First tier versus first tier, second tier versus second tier and third tier versus third tier. It’s hardly rocket science and would be completely fair. Another easy improvement, surely.
***
THE BAD
Topsy-turvy Cork: While we have already mentioned the best day of the season above, unfortunately the lows again outweighed the highs for Cork football fans in 2024. Cork’s early league form meant any hopes of promotion from Division 2 were gone by the end of week three after defeats away to Donegal and Louth and a particularly poor reversal at home to Cavan. A late Maurice Shanley goal gave Cork a barely-deserved win against Fermanagh, followed by wins at home to Kildare and away to Meath. The ship was now steady and relegation fears averted, and a home draw against an under-strength Armagh rounding off a perfectly mediocre league campaign.
A comfortable if unconvincing win over Limerick in the first round of the Munster senior championship set up a tilt at Kerry in Killarney. A promising first-half display would eventually fade away into another defeat on enemy soil, before thoughts turned to the All-Ireland group stages. Another unconvincing performance on a Saturday evening in Ennis saw Cork claim a narrow win against Clare. The paucity of the performance would be underlined by Donegal and Tyrone claiming far more comfortable wins against the same opponents, which would ultimately condemn Cork to an ill-fated trip to Inniskeane in Monaghan to face Louth.
Senior football panel exodus: After a season of inconsistency which would end in failure, John Cleary and co needed a winter of planning with their strongest possible panel ahead of the new season and its new rules. Instead, there has been a slow drip of withdrawals from the football squad over the winter months. John O’Rourke, Thomas Clancy and Killian O’Hanlon all retired, Kevin Flahive is going travelling and most painful of all, Steven Sherlock, Jack Cahalane and Damien Gore have all opted out for the season ahead.
With Conor Corbett injured and Cathail O’Mahony so injury-prone, Cork are left threadbare in the attacking department in a year when scoring forwards once again have added currency. Sherlock would be a major threat for two-pointers from beyond the 40-metre arc and Jack Cahalane would revel in the more open spaces. Other players not available to John Cleary that I’m sure he’d love to consider would include Michael Hurley and Mark Collins from his own club, the Whites from Clonakilty, Sam Ryan of St Finbarr’s, US-based John Cooper, Mark Keane and Liam O’Connell in Australia playing AFL and players committed to the hurlers like Brian Hayes, Conor Cahalane, Conor O’Callaghan, Sean O’Donoghue and possibly a few more. It doesn’t make for pretty reading and makes a difficult job for management even harder.
Underage struggles: It was another year of disappointment for Cork at underage level as the minors suffered heavy defeats against Kerry and Mayo, while the U20s also came up short in the Munster final in Tralee, suffering a six-point defeat that in reality was even more comprehensive. Questions abound about the production and retention of footballers in the county, and there is much criticism of the development squads from many. Luke Connolly was another to add his voice to the criticism when he claimed in a recent interview that Cork are ‘a bit behind’ when it came to coaching and player development.
‘If you have an option of kicking balls over the bar or going to the gym, kick the balls,’ Connolly continued. Of course, modern footballers need to do both to succeed at the highest level, however Connolly’s assertion that Cork are producing ‘fabulous athletes, yet players on the senior team aren’t comfortable with the ball’ is a damning indictment of our player development in recent years. I would also suggest that as well as football dominance, Kerry have physically overpowered Cork in recent years also. Our senior team is not a big side, and we have more runners than powerful, quality footballers.
I know many of the people involved with Cork at underage and there are plenty who do Trojan work, and I wouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking we get it all wrong at these ages and the other counties are doing everything better. Nonetheless, we can’t argue with the facts and thus changes and improvement are needed. I would suggest attitudes and mindset towards football in large parts of the county would be the first thing to change, as well as giving better opportunities to young players in parts of the county far from Cork city. Investment in three of four mini training centres in conjunction with our divisions should be considered also.
U21 chaos: While many things for clubs have improved, and from speaking to U16 and U18 coaches within the club they are very satisfied with how the season is run at those grades, the U21 competition has proven the biggest victim of changes made within the organisation. As manager of Carbery Rangers U21 team, I will return to this soon.
***
THE VERY, VERY UGLY
June 23rd, 2024. Inniskeane, Co. Monaghan. Louth 1-9 Cork 1-8. I don’t need to say anymore but if you want to know why it deserves a category all of its own, go back and watch the last 10 minutes as Cork chased the game. Painful, painful watching.
