A semi-final against Donegal is just another big challenge for a man who has already delivered considerable success for Cork, writes IAN O'RIORDAN
NOVEMBER 2010, and from the balmy darkness of the hot Malaysian night, the small press cohort of the GAA All Star tour swarms the lobby of the Crowne Plaza Kuala Lumpur, looking for a gentle nightcap, and who happens to be there already only Conor Counihan, the Cork football manager, sipping gently on a bottle of Tiger Beer.
In the immaculately jovial camaraderie that followed, Counihan embraces the company, even engaging in the inevitably lingering debate of the All Star selection itself, and why All-Ireland champions Cork only got four awards – same as beaten finalists Down – and not a single forward, not even Daniel Goulding, who kicked nine points of Cork’s winning total of 16.
“Sure lads, I wouldn’t like to be telling you how to do your job,” says Counihan before breaking into his soft baritone laugh, so hopelessly infectious that we all laugh with him.
Counihan maintains such an accessible and likeable disposition that in victory or defeat he sustains an unwavering respect. If consistency is the first word that comes to mind about his Cork team, it also applies to Counihan himself – unfailingly gentlemanly and polite, he seems devoid of any of the vanities that so often accompany management.
Better still, Counihan never appears to take himself too seriously, preferring instead to look on the lighter side. Earlier this summer, at a press event before Cork’s Munster showdown against Kerry, Counihan showed up on crutches, having recently had a minor knee operation.
“I’m only 50-50 at this stage,” he joked. “I’m the only worry, so we’ll leave it until the last minute to see.”
Now five years in the job, his consistency of game face and game plan has been frequently scrutinised and rarely questioned, and yet perhaps more than ever it all goes up on trial in tomorrow’s All-Ireland semi-final showdown against Donegal. The popular feeling that Cork will have to come up with something a little if not a lot different to beat Donegal is suddenly begging the question of whether or not Counihan has the tactical wherewithal, or, just as importantly, the ruthless nerve to employ it.
Only those who have served or indeed soldiered alongside him can offer a true assessment, and few people come better qualified than Niall Cahalane. For years he defended with Counihan, including at wing back, in the 1987 All-Ireland defeat to Meath – which Counihan captained, at centre back – and then behind him, at corner back, when Cork won those famous back-to-back All-Irelands in 1989 and 1990.
“I actually don’t think you could meet more of a calculated thinker of a man than Conor,” says Cahalane, thus dispelling the myth that Counihan and his Cork team work less on the cerebral and more on the physical.
“He’s also a very fine, very cool customer. Sure, he’s a man who keeps his counsel very much to himself, but he’s a very deep thinker, and over the years, playing with Conor, he was like that too. No one can argue he hasn’t been good for Cork football, winning three national leagues, the All-Ireland . . . he’s been very, very successful already, and is up there now with Billy Morgan is terms of bringing that level of success to Cork.”
Cahalane doesn’t pretend that Counihan’s potential to manage as well as he played was immediately obvious, but there were signs – starting in 1987, when that Cork faced Meath in Croke Park.
“Even back then, around 1987, he was one of those players who brought a lot of thought to the thing. It wasn’t just about running out there, giving it your all. There was always that little bit more to Conor in that he would have always thought things out very well, especially tactically, and as a centre back, and central defender, he would always have studied his direct opponent, a lot more than most other guys would have.
“We lost that final, and that wasn’t easy, although it wasn’t something we ever discussed. It was a hard bullet to bite, but I think we all kind of realised that this was our first All-Ireland, and while there was disappointment, it was a big experience, and this idea that sometimes you do have to lose one to win one.
“Conor moved on to management soon enough, too, coming back as a selector as I was coming to the end of my playing, then played an important part with Larry Tompkins too, when Larry took over as manager.”
Indeed it’s easily forgotten now just how patiently the man from Aghada awaited his turn: Counihan was tipped to succeed Tompkins when his reign came to an end, in 2003, although Cork opted to bring Morgan back instead. Then came the winter fiasco of 2007 – when the row over Cork managers no longer being able to choose their own selectors went viral, resulting first in Morgan’s resignation, then the subsequent appointment of Teddy Holland (again, ahead of Counihan), and finally the all-out strike, that spilled over from the county boardroom to the Labour Relations Commission.
By the time Holland was finally cast aside, in February 2008, Counihan must have wondered if the chalice was now poisoned, yet he willingly drank from it nonetheless. It helped that he surrounded himself with able lieutenants, who have stood by him since: Ger O’Sullivan and Jim Nolan, previous selectors, plus Terry O’Neill and Peadar Healy.
When they managed to save Cork from relegation from Division Two, despite surrendering their opening points, then against greater odds beat Kerry in the Munster final, it was clear Counihan wasn’t just the right man in the right place at the right time. He’d been groomed for the job, and even if it effectively passed him by, twice, he didn’t let that drag him down.
“I suppose the first thing Conor brought, tactically, were tactics that best suit Cork football,” says Cahalane, “hard to break down, while putting up big scores.
“But I do think Cork have the tactical versatility now as well, because over the last four or five years, Cork have put together a very strong panel. There’s huge competition for places, and Conor probably has access to eight or nine as good as forwards as are in the country. In fact some of them could consider themselves very unfortunate to be sitting in the dugout, because if they were with any other county they would probably be starting.
“But he’s changed their tactics, too. This year especially they have changed tactics again, and gone more direct into their forward line, with more direct ball. And Conor will have this game thought out very well in his own mind . . . tactically, this Cork team is not working on automatic pilot, I can assure you. And that whole backroom team has years and years of experience. They didn’t come over the hill 12 months ago.”
One reference point to this game is their last championship meeting, the 2009 All-Ireland quarter-final, when Donegal arrived on the back of some impressive qualifier form, only to be trounced by Cork 1-27 to 2-10 – with all but three of Cork’s point total coming from play.
However, in this year’s league meeting, when Cork arrived in Ballybofey having struck 4-11 against Down, they only managed 0-6 against Donegal, who scored 1-7. That’s helped turn tomorrow’s game into one of the season’s most anticipated sideline battles.
“Sure, Jim McGuinness has turned out to be a very astute manager,” says Cahalane. “But I suppose with Conor, he came in under the radar, really. They won a league title, a Munster championship, then were pipped at the post by Kerry, in All-Ireland finals, and semi-finals. Then when he pulled it off two years ago, winning what was a very good All-Ireland, people probably felt it was expected, rather than give Conor the full credit for it.
“With McGuinness, in only his second season, people are saying he’s worked wonders, because Donegal were coming from a very low base. So it will be very interesting, even to see how both teams will set up. And there’s no doubt it will be a very tactical game. Will that make it dull, and boring? I don’t know. It could be very exciting just the same.
“It’s a tactical battle for Cork. . . Both teams have some fine scoring forwards, and it will come down to who is allowed the more room to put up those scores. I wouldn’t be overconfident, but if Cork can hit any of their high notes on Sunday, play their A-game, and get it tactically right, then Donegal will find it very difficult. There won’t be a lot in it, so I’d go for Cork, only just.”
No doubt Counihan has all that worked out in his head already.
CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD Cork under Conor Counihan
2008
Munster SF: Cork 2-9 Limerick 0-12
Munster Final: Cork 1-16 Kerry 1-11
All-Ireland QF: Cork 2-11 Kildare 1-11
All-Ireland SF: Kerry 3-14 Cork 2-13
2009
Munster QF: Cork 2-18, Waterford 1-7
Munster SF: Cork 1-10, Kerry 0-13
Replay: Cork 1-17 Kerry 0-12
Munster Final: Cork 2-6 Limerick 0-11
All-Ireland QF: Cork 1-27 Donegal 2-10
All-Ireland SF: Cork 1-13 Tyrone 0-11
All-Ireland Final: Kerry 0-16 Cork 1-9
2010
Munster SF: Kerry 0-15 Cork 0-15
Replay: Kerry 1-15 Cork 1-14
All-Ireland Q2: Cork 1-19 Cavan 0-4
All-Ireland Q3: Cork 0-12 Wexford 0-5
All-Ireland Q4: Cork 0-16 Limerick 1-11 (aet)
All-Ireland QF: Cork 1-16 Roscommon 0-10
All-Ireland SF: Cork 1-15 Dublin 1-14
All-Ireland Final: Cork 0-16 Down 0-15
2011
Munster QF: Cork 1-23 Clare 0-11
Munster SF: Cork 5-17 Waterford 2-8
Munster Final: Kerry 1-15 Cork 1-12
All-Ireland Q4: Cork 2-20 Down 0-14
All-Ireland QF: Mayo 1-13 Cork 2-6
2012
Munster SF: Cork 0-17 Kerry 0-12
Munster Final: Cork 3-16 Clare 0-13
All-Ireland QF: Cork 2-19 Kildare 0-12
Total
Played: 27. Won: 20. Drew: 2. Lost: 5.
