Cork under 21 captain Stephen Cronin.
By Cian O'Connell
As a tense EirGrid Munster under 21 final entered the closing stages Cork simply stayed cool. Kerry were summoning a daring late rally, but what pleased Cork captain, Stephen Cronin, was the Rebels’ sense of calm.
Cork refused to press the panic button with Cian Dorgan clipping the decisive last gasp point. It was a defining match for Sean Hayes’ team.
“Surprisingly enough, we were only talking about this afterwards, there was fierce calmness there,” Cronin recalls about Kerry’s flurry.
“They got a goal, there couldn't have been any more than six or seven minutes left when they got their goal, back to a point, and then they got the following free.
“There was never any big shouting or giving out. It was very calm. It was a very strange one for us. Looking at it we found it very strange that we were so calm because usually you'd be going manic, especially in the backs.
“I suppose we probably had confidence in ourselves, which was a big thing, and we had confidence in each other which is probably a massive thing. It just showed when it came to working that score.”
Having cruised to wins over Clare and Waterford, Cork have subsequently dealt with the step up in class effectively.
“Yeah I suppose we hinged our season on it,” Cronin, who suffered a serious leg injury in August, said about the provincial decider. “We knew playing against Clare and Waterford that there were probably tougher tests ahead.
“Playing against Kerry we knew it was make or break for our season. They were seen as out and out favourites.
“They had won the last two minor All-Irelands so playing against them we kind of knew that it would make or break us, and thankfully we came through thanks to Cian Dorgan in the end with the last minute point so that was kind of the big one for us.”
