Cork can bank on reliable Cashman

Any illusions Tom Cashman may have harboured about stepping up from Cork hurling selector to take on the position of manager evaporated in the heat of yesterday's phone time. The man could not have taken any more calls had he assumed the other big southern position, Florida Secretary of State.

"Phew, it's been fairly hectic all right," he concedes. "Comes with the job I suppose. But it is mostly just well wishes and media inquiries, so it's okay."

In the eulogies to the departing Jimmy Barry-Murphy, one of the truest sportsmen to take any field, the fact that Cashman has been serving Cork as long as his predecessor has perhaps been overlooked. The Blackrock man was a constant presence during the Barry-Murphy minor years and endured the initially traumatic senior seasons of 1995 and 1996 before they turned a corner in the last years of the decade. But although he has punched in as many hours, the intensity, he says, was incomparable.

"It's true, yeah, I have been around for the last eight years as well but Jimmy was the front man for all that time and the kind of pressure that brings is incredible. He absorbed so many demands on time and took on all kinds of duties. Being a selector is a much more specific thing. Jimmy is a tremendous loss to Cork but fair play; he was determined to leave at what he felt was the right time. The way it was, the management team had a year left of our contract and we wanted to just see the thing out, give it a bit of continuity," he points out.

Cashman's hurling pedigree is no less impressive than that of the man he replaces. Over a distinguished playing career, he accumulated three minor medals (one for football), an under-21 medal and four All-Ireland senior medals. He bowed out in 1986 after lifting the McCarthy Cup. He also claimed four county titles during his Blackrock days and in 1993 he joined the Barry-Murphy management team that oversaw renewed county success.

After Cork's unerring return to the summit in 1999, the management team was widely acknowledged as being among the most enlightened in the game. They not only shaped a rock-steady defensive team spearheaded by scintillating, pure forward play, they assembled one of the most pleasant and reasonable squads in the country. Unfailing courtesy will remain a notable aspect of the Barry-Murphy legacy and Cashman is cut from the same cloth. As he sees it, his priority is to learn from last summer's surprise semi-final exit to Offaly and to ensure that his team regain the momentum of the previous year.

"When you look at that Offaly match in isolation, it is hard to explain it away. Cork coming off a fantastic Munster final victory over Tipperary, and Offaly after enduring a bad beating from Kilkenny and struggling against Derry. Certainly, there was an element of cockiness from Cork, I think, which is something that cost us dear. And then the scores simply weren't coming when we needed them and we panicked a small bit, which is not like us. So we will take in those lessons and move on positively."

So predominant is youth in the current Cork set-up that it is hard to imagine there being room for fresh talent. But the new management will use the forthcoming tournament games and next year's National League to give those players that have been waiting in the wings an opportunity.

"There is a lot of promise on this year's minor team and we would hope to give them a run over the league. We intend to give young players plenty of chances while at the same time trying to win all the games we can."

Not that Cashman will have long to wait before patrolling the white line, as Cork play Clare in the South Eastern League next Saturday. As he sees it however, life will not vary greatly from the old ways.

"It's no secret that I'm very fortunate in the team I have with me. I'm only one member of it and people like Bertie Og (Murphy), Phil Noonan, Johnny Crowley, Fred Sheedy and of course Ted Owen, our trainer . . . these guys know what it's all about. It might take a small bit of time to get used to not having Jimmy about the place at training and on the line but we know he'll be there in spirit."

And most likely in person - about 10 yards behind the wire.