Making up for a late start Player profiles

Seán Moran talks to one of the vital cogs in the rock-solid Cork defence, Pat Mulcahy

In a team notable for its rock-solid consistency of selection, Pat Mulcahy has the distinction of not having been an ever-present on the two back-to-back winning sides of 2004 and '05. An injury sustained in a motor accident kept him out of the first of those finals in which Cork stopped Kilkenny's three-in-a-row bid at the last hurdle. It was a huge disappointment for the player, who will lift the Liam MacCarthy on Sunday should Cork complete the turning of the tables on their great rivals by completing a treble of their own.

The second oldest player, at 31, on the team after Brian Corcoran, Mulcahy was a late starter, not making his first championship appearance until six years ago when he coincidentally came on as a replacement for Corcoran. It took another three years before he nailed down a place and played through to the All-Ireland final of 2003 before fate unkindly intervened a year later.

Unlike his club colleagues from Newtownshandrum, the O'Connor twins, Mulcahy began his career before the club had ascended to senior ranks and certainly before it was to win an All-Ireland and blueprint the style of play that would help bring great success to the county.

"Our club played junior hurling in 1992 and went to intermediate in '96 and came up to the senior ranks since and we've done okay considering Newtown was always known as an intermediate hurling club. It's great for the people at home and has created huge interest around the place.

"There's no football down there and no other sport. It's exclusively hurling in the village and if you want to be part of the community you'd better be playing hurling.

"At under-age level I won absolutely nothing apart from an under-12 medal. I was three or four years older than Ben and Jerry, Paul Morrissey and those fellas, who were winning everything at under-age. Because I didn't win very much when I was younger, I think I appreciate it now it's there and I know it doesn't go on forever."

He is part of what is at present hurling's best defensive unit. The Cork half-back line has been the control unit for the team's championship supremacy whereas two of the inside line, Mulcahy and Diarmuid O'Sullivan, are current All Stars and the other, Brian Murphy, is regarded as this season's top corner back.

Behind them is the reassurance of Donal Cusack's goalkeeping, which has been so good this year that barring a catastrophic final, the Cloyne man will be picking up his second All Star this winter. "He's improved every year since he came on the panel," says Mulcahy about Cusack, "and that's a credit to his work-rate and dedication. This year, above any other, he's been outstanding. The ball he brought down from over the crossbar against Waterford was a testament to his character. I thought it was going wide when it was hit but it started dropping and the second he batted it out I realised it was probably going over. He does the basics very well first and then over the years he's evolved his game and improved and added extra dimensions to it. He's very much a deep thinker."

The routine of preparing for All-Ireland finals is familiar at this stage. As well as the escalating standards of physical fitness, there is the tactical appreciation that informs the preparation of all top teams. "Make sure you're physically fit and your touch is in - that's the first thing," says Mulcahy. "I suppose the way the game is gone everyone's looking at videos and pulling out matches. You know it yourself from playing games where fellas have you fairly well sized up. Forwards tend to rotate a lot. You could be happy enough after 10 minutes and then you get another guy in on top of you. You have to be able to move around. Brian Murphy found himself out on the half-back line against Waterford. You must be prepared to play on any of the forwards and in any of the six defensive positions."

For all of that, Cork's wins this season have been squeaky rather than emphatic. In the semi-final they just about kept Waterford at bay thanks to Cusack batting away Ken McGrath's long-range free whereas Limerick were also uncomfortably close. But Mulcahy denies that it ever crossed his mind that the champions would lose. "When it rained and they started hitting some magic scores it definitely crossed my mind that we were in a game. I also felt that if we didn't concede a goal we had a good chance of out-pointing them."

Cool under fire.

MulcahyFacts

Position: Corner back and captain

Club: Newtownshandrum

Honours to date: Two All-Ireland SHC; One All-Ireland club SHC; Three Munster SHC; Two Munster club SHC; one Railway Cup.