Pictured is Cork Senior footballer, Brian Hurley, who has today teamed up with Allianz Insurance to look ahead to this weekend’s Allianz Football League action. For only the second time ever, the outcome of the Allianz Football League has a direct impact on qualification for the GAA All Ireland Senior Football Championship, heightening interest in the competition.
By John Harrington
In the past few days Brian Hurley has regularly visualised his injury-time shot that very nearly claimed what would have been a dramatic win for Cork over Dublin in Division 2 of the Allianz Football League last weekend.
His piledriver was brilliantly tipped onto the upright by Dublin goalkeeper David O’Hanlon when it looked like it was sure to make the net billow.
Hurley has questioned whether he took the right option or whether he should have cut back inside before shooting, but he knows in his heart he couldn’t have done any better in that situation and was actually sure he’d buried the ball until O’Hanlon got his finger-tip to it.
Cork’s season thus far was probably crystallised in that moment – they’re getting closer to where they want to get to, but they’re not quite there yet.
“Yeah, there were a lot of positives to take from the Dublin game but some negatives too to be fair when I had a chance to look back on it,” says Hurley.
“We had 15 wides, we were probably down a man for 12 minutes which allowed Dublin to get back into the game.
“There were other opportunties, we probably had five goal chances over the game and only took two of them. I think we learned a lot from it.
“If we had got the win we might have brushed over it. That's probably what the League is about, like. Obviously you'd like to win and what not, but if you can find enough out about yourself then it will benefit you down the line.”
Championship is a different animal to League, but the manner in which Cork pushed Dublin all the way last weekend still feels like a big step in the right direction.
When the teams met in last year’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final Cork were beaten by 11 points, so they’ve closed some ground on one of the standard-setters in the game.
“Yeah, definitely,” says Hurley. “I think Year Two of a management is a lot easier too for a team when you're getting to know the players better and you have a better connection. You understand their runs and where they put the ball. We have an established block of pre-season done which we're getting glimpses of now. But the downside of it is we have one win out of three so we need to look at that more as well.
“We're doing some great things but we need to get results with it. There's a lot of young fellas who've gotten opportunities like Tommy Walsh, Daniel O'Mahony, Luke Fahy, Eoghan McSweeney, Conor Corbett is coming on. There's a nice mix there at the minute and when fellas are getting the opportunity they're taking it.
“The competition is healthy. Last week two of what you would have said are our certain backs, Sean Meehan and Kevin O'Donovan, didn't get on the pitch.
“So competition is savage and if you can keep that going and keep putting pressure on and just getting results we'll be in a good position, please God.”
Brian Hurley of Cork collides with John Small of Dublin during the Allianz Football League Division Two match between Cork and Dublin at Páirc Ui Chaoimh in Cork.
The competition in the squad is certainly getting the best out of Hurley who was electric against Dublin, scoring four points from play as well as converted mark and three frees.
He’s 30 now but arguably in the form of his life and likes to think that missing the 2016 and 2017 seasons with hamstring injuries might ultimately add a year or two to his career.
“I missed two years, but it was actually Graham Canty that said it to me - you've to picture this as though you're a car parked up in the garage, you haven't put mileage on the clock. That was a great saying to me, and I use that in my head at times because my body feels good and do you know, sometimes, you'd say age over whatever, but when the body feels good you can push that bit more if that makes sense.
“And when you're pushing on in age a small bit you try to grab onto it more and enjoy it more and you're a bit more hungry for it. I like fast ball and we're kind of playing a bit like that at the minute. Yeah, I can't complain at all.
“The other thing is that there's competition around me and I like competition. I like the way when there's people putting pressure on you because that ups your own game. You practice more and you push yourself more and I like that side of it.”
It's early days yet but the signs are that this Cork football team has turned a corner and could have a very interesting year ahead. Hurley, certainly, is excited about what may come.
"Yeah, of course," he says. "Every year you'd be excited but I know the work we've put in and the group we have is very, very good. A lot of them have won Sigerson medals last week and they're straight back into training the day after.
"They're good guys. You can have the best set-up in the world, but if you don't actually have good lads involved then you're not going far.
"I'm very happy where we're at. We just need to get a few more results in the League, but we're showing depth in the panel which is good."
