'Jekyll and Hyde scenario manifested itself'

THE RECORD books will show this All-Ireland quarter-final as a tight game but in fact Cork utterly dominated but lacked the ruthlessness to humiliate Kildare. Kildare showed enough guts to almost make them pay.

"People have pointed out the Jekyll and Hyde scenario with Cork and I think it has manifested itself (again) and we absolutely cannot afford any spell of lacklustre play against Kerry or they will punish us," said Cork full forward Michael Cussen.

The question of Cork's past meltdowns on sight of green and gold jerseys in Croke Park was sidestepped by manager Conor Counihan. "It's still a green field with four flags and a referee and a ball. We've got to get down to that."

The departure of Derek Kavanagh from the full-back role precipitated the Kildare revival. Counihan was asked to explain the decision. "He had got the yellow and the black. He was absolutely flying at the time but it was just something we felt at that stage if we had a man sent off it would give them a big psychological boost. I'll look back on that but the reality was collectively we didn't play well in that last quarter. I wouldn't identify any particular individual for that."

Kieran McGeeney is as straight talking a sportsman as you are likely to find. The transition into management began disastrously with defeat to Wicklow in the opening Leinster championship match before victories over Cavan, Limerick and Fermanagh brought them back to Croke Park in August. It will be viewed as a successful season in Kildare. McGeeney deemed it as average. And he hates being average.

"It is very hard to say when I have all these things (dictaphones) stuck in my face. I know people think we were trying to implement Armagh's game, which I always found quite amusing, but we've tried to put in a level of work-rate and hunger into the boys because they haven't worked . . probably haven't played that type of way before in terms of getting up to a different level. The game has changed quite a bit in terms of fitness levels and work-rate of different teams. Two to 15 have to be comfortable on the ball and take it from anywhere."

How much of a hindrance was four games on successive weekends? "That is one of those 'what if' questions. You can say it is and you say it isn't. At the end of the day you take the field and you are happy with what you have. I'd say probably the only thing it affects is mental preparation. It's not something the boys are used to.

"Physically, I think the burnout thing in the GAA is a wee bit overstated but it can be a mental thing but I wouldn't use it as an excuse. We were slow to start but we finished stronger. That wouldn't strike you as fatigue. Maybe mental."

Now that we had him cornered we sought an opinion on the rest of the championship. "Trying to be a fortune teller in football is an impossible task. There are a lot better people out there than me to do it. Luck is a major part to play in knock-out football. Consistency can go out the window. Two high balls at the beginning of the game and they are stuck in the back of the net. But that's what is so great about football."

We shall be reading a few more chapters about Mr McGeeney the Manager.