O'Connor looking forward to Limerick test

By Stephen Barry

Ben O’Connor says his eyes have been opened to the workload involved in senior inter-county hurling since taking over as Cork manager.

The former All-Ireland-winning captain has been quick to guard his players from criticism after getting an up-close view of their willingness to run through a brick wall for the cause.

O’Connor feels that people have to be part of the group to fully understand the extent of the commitment. “I played here in the Páirc however many years ago,” he recalls. “There was a fella on the team playing with me and his father was up sitting two rows behind my mother and he was criticising myself and Jerry. I might have been going poor – I often went poor – but he was above criticising.

“Do you have to be in the circle? You do, because a lot of people don't see it. We started on November 17 and trained three and four nights a week in the wind, wet, and cold.

“Pick out some fella who's abusing above in the stand at the weekend – if things aren't going great, there's always a fella giving out. If you ask him to come into training every night and just sit and watch it, not to mind go in and do the training... People don't get what these fellas put themselves through.

“People expect that fellas have to be outstanding every day. That just doesn't happen. They're not machines.

“You have to be in the circle to see what fellas are putting into it. And they're doing it for what? A love of Cork hurling.”

John Kiely has previously suggested that players can go on for longer with modern methods of preparation, but O’Connor feels the demands take a toll on amateur players. “A lot of these fellas are actually training for the last 10 years with no break at all. They just keep coming back and keep coming back. It's for the big days, and they don't happen that often.

“It's a short career. I suppose careers were a bit longer before, but with what fellas are putting into it now, careers are getting shorter.

“Fellas aren't able to keep doing it because there's so much of a draw on their time. When I was playing, it was three nights a week, or four maybe an odd time."

One of those big days arrives this Sunday as Cork bid to defend their Munster title at home to Limerick.

O’Connor has repeatedly labelled the Treaty as hurling’s standard-bearers. When asked what impresses him most about the neighbours, the Newtownshandrum man points to their mentality. “They've kept it going so long. They are there for the last 10 or 12 years. It's a lot of the same players that they've had and they're able to keep it going.

“They play to a system that suits them. They don't change it for anyone. They just do what they do and they stick to that. They believe in that and it has obviously been working for them.

“Any team that gets over them seems to go on to win the All-Ireland, bar us. Good players and they're still the team to beat.”