Low-key guy who gets job done

ALL_IRELAND SFC SEMI-FINAL CORK V TYRONE: SEAN MORANgets the low-down on Conor Counihan, who has restored order and morale to the Cork side

THE HIGHEST-PROFILE act in Conor Counihan’s management of the Cork footballers was its introduction. Installed quickly and amid an overwhelming sense of relief he took the reins following the forced dismissal of Teddy Holland, whose appointment only months previously had triggered the first shots in the second of the great county executive wars.

There were other reasons February 2008 was not an ideal time to take up the position. The previous September, the county had gone down to a scarifying 10-point defeat against Kerry, their neighbours and perennial Croke Park scourges – a setback that had brought the curtain down on the Billy Morgan era.

As Morgan’s would-be successor, Holland was unacceptable to the players and in responding on his swift departure to their unhappiness he was unsparing about the team he nearly got to manage.

“Last year’s All-Ireland final was the most chaotic, abject capitulation in the history of Cork football. It lacked all the qualities which I stand for and which I hope the players can learn in time. In their more honest moments, the players might reflect on their performances that day and use them as a motivation to drive them forward.”

There were positives: the county had been regular All-Ireland semi-finalists and coming on stream was a generation of successful underage players. But immediately Counihan had to come in, restore order and morale and rebuild the team during a league campaign, which they were joining late because of the players’ strike.

IN THE CIRCUMSTANCES, the season was a success. Cork stayed in Division Two despite the missed fixtures and went on to win back the Munster title before another inevitable defeat by Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-finals, albeit after a replay – making for easily the county’s best result against their eternal rivals at Croke Park, whatever about the performances which were patchy on both days.

The systemic importance of senior success cannot be overestimated according to one member of the county’s development committee, minor football manager Brian Cuthbert. “It’s vital. Senior players come to our sessions and when they’re in the limelight, it gives a big impetus to 14- and 15-year-olds.”

At entry levels, football in the county is benefiting from the increased focus on development practice, an area in which Cork has lagged behind other counties. Formerly such work was centred in the divisional areas of Cork, practically because of geographical size but county-wide initiatives are now under way.

Des Cullinane, chair of the committee and an experienced underage coach, concedes that the county is playing catch-up but doesn’t believe that the county has been too disadvantaged.

“It’s only in the past two or three years that we’ve laid down the foundations. Before that we always had a divisional system but I don’t think too much can be read into that. We won two out of three under-21s with a structure that wouldn’t hold a candle to Tyrone’s and Armagh’s. Look at Dublin’s development work but they’ve yet to win anything.”

THIS YEAR THERE has been further progress at senior level: promotion to Division One and a comprehensive replay defeat of Kerry in Munster. If a lower-geared effort made for an uncomfortably close Munster final against Limerick, they survived and gave the team’s best display in Croke Park when dismantling Donegal.

As a result the county goes into tomorrow’s All-Ireland football semi-final against champions Tyrone on an equal footing as one of the two form teams of the championship to date.

The steady through-put of garlanded under-21 talent is seen as one of the reasons for the rise in expectations but many of the current youngsters played in Billy Morgan’s last year so improvement has been organic.

“The team that’s there now,” according to Cuthbert, “the nucleus has been around for a few years but to be fair to Billy Morgan he took them from being nobodies to challenging for an All-Ireland even if they didn’t win it. In the past two years under Conor they seem to believe in themselves a bit more and they’ve found some new players coming through.”

Praise for Counihan is a constant theme in assessing the team’s progress. He didn’t materialise out of nothing, having won two All-Irelands under Morgan in 1989 and ’90.

He also worked with Morgan’s 1996 successor Larry Tompkins as defensive coach and produced a stable back six, which took Cork to a National League title and an All-Ireland final boasting a defensive record – average championship concession 9.8 points – second only to eventual champions Meath.

“Conor Counihan is a low-key guy who gets on with the job,” says Cullinane. “He’s not into creating excitement but there is a sense of expectation about the prospects of the team. There has been an influx of new players but the personnel hasn’t changed that much. But this a natural cycle from under-21 with players who have won two All-Irelands and lost a final to Mayo in the past few years.”

FORMER ALL-IRELAND team-mate Niall Cahalane says that Counihan was always identifiably management material – even as a player. “Back then? Definitely. Conor Counihan was a very calculated man. He analysed everything even as a player: opponents and his own team-mates, knowing who was mentally strong and who wasn’t.

“We knew each other well then and the one thing you could be sure of was that Conor Counihan would always know what was going on in your head because he’d interview you but you’d never find out what was going on in his head. He’s a deep thinker but keeps his own counsel.

“He’s been a new face and a fresh voice for the team. I’ve been on teams and watched teams in matches like the quarter-final against Donegal that went out and won by five or six points but Conor has brought an intensity. If you are 15 points a better team, you go out and win by 15 points; don’t pull up.”

Winning by a single point tomorrow would mark a cataclysmic advance for Cork, a win over one of the game’s reigning duopoly on the All-Ireland stage. It would also be seen as a major step towards bringing home – in all senses – Sam Maguire for the first time since 1990.

Brian Cuthbert believes that will ultimately happen even if tomorrow prevents it being this year. “I think so without a shadow of a doubt. They will. They’re a very professional outfit and very hungry. They want to do well and are well run and well managed.”

The time is at hand.