IT’S striking that the influence of West Cork, often referred to as the home of football in the county, is fading in the county’s flagship football team. Well, in numbers at least.
Let’s look at the evidence. In the Cork team that lost by 14 points at home to Roscommon, a result that ended any Division 2 promotion hopes, two West Cork footballers started: Rory Maguire of Castlehaven, and Carrigaline footballer Brian O’Driscoll who is a Caheragh man. On the bench were two more Castlehaven footballers, Cathal Maguire and Conor Cahalane, and Bantry Blues’s Ruairi Deane.
With Clonakilty’s Maurice Shanley, Castlehaven’s Brian Hurley and Newcestown’s David Buckley all injured, the West Cork involvement was hit, but let’s look at this another way.
There are six senior football clubs in West Cork right now – four at premier senior level (Castlehaven, Carbery Rangers, Clonakilty and Newcestown) and two at senior A level (Dohenys and O’Donovan Rossa). Of those six clubs, three have no current Cork senior football panellist (Carbery Rangers, Dohenys and O’Donovan Rossa), Clonakilty (Maurice Shanley) and Newcestown (David Buckley) have one each, while county champions Castlehaven have four (Hurley, Rory Maguire, Cathal Maguire and Conor Cahalane).
Is this more revealing on the health of West Cork football right now? Perhaps not, given the county success of Castlehaven and Newcestown in recent seasons. Stick with me.
Let’s look at the opening round of the county football leagues last weekend as several West Cork footballers who decided to step away from the county panel were catching the eye. In Clonakilty’s Division 1 win against Éire Óg, the White brothers, Mark and Sean, who both stepped away from the county scene after the 2021 season, were in action – Mark is an inter-county quality goalkeeper and his older brother Sean has proved his class over the years. Fionn Herlihy, who has decided to focus on club football, scored 1-4 as Dohenys defeated Kanturk. Michael Hurley, another to put his club first, was on target in Castlehaven’s loss to Douglas. Damien Gore, yet another to opt out of the county scene, was in action for Kilmacabea in Division 7. All these players have something in common: they have decided to step back from inter-county football to play with their clubs.
Clonakilty goalkeeper Mark White takes control of the ball from Éire Óg's Ronan O'Toole at the throw-in for the second half of the McCarthy Insurance FL Div 1 at Clonakilty on Sunday morning. (Photo: Paddy Feen)
The day after John Cleary suffered his biggest loss as Cork football manager, a 2-21 to 0-13 defeat at home to Roscommon, the Castlehaven man won’t have missed Steven Sherlock, another to opt off the county panel this season, racking up 0-15 as the Barrs beat Cill na Martra.
There’s a trend here, and the truth is the lure of being a Cork footballer is not attractive to many players – and that has to be a concern for the powers-that-be in Cork GAA.
It’s no secret that Castlehaven, St Finbarr’s and Nemo Rangers are the top three football teams in the county, and have shared every county senior title since 2017, yet their representation in the Cork senior football team doesn’t reflect this. Why? They are the best club football teams in the county. There is one Barrs footballer, Ian Maguire. Four from Nemo, with Mark Cronin the only starter right now (Kevin O’Donovan is injured, Micheál Aodh Martin and Briain Murphy are also involved). As for Castlehaven, Rory Maguire is the only regular starter, with Brian Hurley, who turns 33 this year, fighting hard to regain fitness.
For Cork football to have any chance of turning the tide, the county needs as many of its best footballers as possible, but several of the county’s finest have decided to focus on their clubs, creating a scenario like last weekend when inter-county quality Cork players were starring for their clubs as the county team slumped to a loss that ended any hopes of a Division 2 promotion push.
The reality is that Cork will now face into a tenth season outside of Division 1 since the relegation in 2016. Of these nine seasons, eight have been spent trying to climb out of Division 2, but it’s proved a step too far season after season. Why? Cork’s level has proved to be a mid-table Division 2 team. Again, look at the evidence. Cork’s Division 2 finishes are fourth (2017), sixth (2018), seventh (2019, relegated), sixth (2022), fourth (2023) and fourth (2024) – this highlights Cork’s level. The aim is to climb up the ladder, but it’s proved to be beyond several iterations of Cork teams in recent years. It’s why the #2024 – A Five-Year Plan for Cork Football was launched in January 2019, but that plan didn’t deliver on many of its primary goals, including ‘Cork will be regular contenders in all grades of inter-county football, including club championships, within three to five years.’
The silence now surrounding this five-year Cork plan is a contrast to the fanfare it was launched in. The plan came to an end in 2024, yet where was the review into its success or lack of? When The Southern Star asked the county board this week whether a review into the five-year plan had been held or is in the pipeline, the response we received was: ‘We are fully focused on supporting our teams at present and will review all such issues upon the exit of teams from their respective Championships, as standard. The Football Plan will be considered in this context also.’
But why must we wait until after this year’s inter-county season to review a five-year plan that ended in 2024? The name of the plan said it all: #2024 – A Five-Year Plan for Cork Football. Surely, this review should have been held when the plan finished, and the findings shared, instead of waiting until after the 2025 inter-county season finishes. It wasn’t #2025 in the big white font on the 48-page document that launched the plan initially.
At the most recent county committee meeting, it was noted that delegates raised the possibility of a discussion on ‘Gaelic football within the county at a future county committee meeting.’ The response? ‘The chairman noted that a review of all such issues will take place upon the exit of teams from their respective championships’. So, that’s the party line. Let’s wait until this season plays out and we’ll have a look then. The Cork football fanbase deserves better than that. The Rebels haven’t closed the gap on the top teams and despite the best intentions of those involved, Cork aren’t in a position to compete for honours right now. The five-year plan was meant to address that. It hasn’t. And the county board, when they finally decide its time to review its own plan, needs to explain what’s gone wrong and what can be done to point the ship back in the right direction.
