In Focus/The managers: Donal O'Grady talks to Seán Moran about the re-emergence of his side after defeat to Waterford and the media pressures involved in his job.

Turning point for Cork came in the aftermath of the Munster final defeat by Waterford. The team had faded badly in the second half and allowed their 14-man opponents to seize and preserve the initiative. Local criticism was sustained and vocal to the point where it estranged players and at least furrowed the brows of management.

With that episode now a chilly but fast receding memory, team manager Donal O'Grady sees it in perspective. Perceived as a somewhat bossy media presence he is in relaxed form at the county's press event in a city hotel, his eyes twinkling at times and tongue even occasionally in cheek.

He would hardly expect his tenure in charge of the county hurlers to be defined by his dealings with media. But nonetheless they crop up unbidden in his conversation.

"We met on the Wednesday after the Waterford defeat. It was difficult for the players to pick themselves up but I was very heartened by the fact that everyone I met in town in the following few days wished me and the team the best for the Tipperary match.

"We got slated by the press, which is par for the course. A lot of reporters get blamed for this when as we know the sub-editors write the headlines. We were slated in the Echo and the Examiner but around the town people wished us well.

"I remember passing by Páirc Uí Rinn one night when they were selling tickets and being amazed at the number of people queuing outside. I said to the players that it was a little bit emotional to see thousands of people queuing up to support us against Tipperary. When we got to Killarney it was a sea of red and white. Tipperary are a bit like Kerry in the football - they wait for the final."

Cork have waited a year for this final. Twelve months ago, in his first year in charge, O'Grady saw his team recover from a worrying first-half deficit and take Kilkenny to the brink before letting them go. He is quick to disown any sense of grievance at that result.

"There's been a lot of suggestions that we were whingeing that we were the better team last year. We weren't the better team on the day; it's as simple as that and I want to put that on record. The team that scores the most deserves to win. If on Sunday we win seven points to six in the worst game of the century, there won't be too many cribbing down in Cork."

The road back has been hard. For a start, the team lost last season's young hurler of the year, Setanta Ó hAilpín, as well as captain Alan Browne. Pat Mulcahy broke his leg at the start of the championship. The odds were stretching before even a sliotar had been pucked in this summer's championship.

"The player losses you can't do anything about," says O'Grady, "so you forget about it. There's no point in going through that in your mind all the time. You've no solution; when the players are gone, they're gone. You were short virtually a full-forward line bar Joe (Deane) and you just set about filling the gaps the best way you can."

Yet gaps were still in evidence during the Munster championship. The forwards posed little goal threat, with the two that were scored against Limerick and Waterford freakish rather than crafted, and won worryingly little ball in the air.

As is often the case, defeat proved instructive and there was a marked improvement in the qualifier match against Tipperary. From there a steady rhythm of matches every couple of weeks was established.

"When you lose the important thing is to get a handy draw," according to the Cork manager. "Now we didn't get a handy draw but at least we won it and that gives you momentum. There's a natural progression. You make improvements as you go along; learn a little here and there.

"The games fell nicely for us. Your training is geared to a match every two weeks, which makes things a bit easier than having to wait six weeks or seven."

O'Grady is aware the core of this team has been around for a while and that five years after last winning the championship, time is pressing. It has made the task of motivating the side for a second year that bit easier.

"There are cycles in every team. I suppose the skeleton was formed in 1997, '98 and '99 and teams have a natural cycle, which lasts for six or seven years before they die away. Whether or not this team is coming to the end of that cycle, a lot of them are in their mid- to late-20s."

On the subject of his own managerial cycle he acknowledges the pressure on his time and has further observations on the media interface.

"You have to juggle your time a bit. The main thing as you know is talking to reporters. That takes the most time because it's unproductive for me - it's productive for the journalist but there's nothing in that for me basically as regards preparing the team. But it's something that you have to do now." He pauses before saying: "I must admit I get a lot of pleasure from it so I don't mind."

He lets the statement float deadpan before registering a soft laugh.

How long is he planning to prolong this pleasure? "That's a question for another day. I'll answer that some other time."