'Spoiled' Carey hungry for more success

Were it not for the constant reminders of the trauma his team-mates had endured to finally get their hands on Sam Maguire last Sunday, Ray Carey might well have fallen into the trap of believing that winning comes easy with Cork.

Carey, who made his Championship debut against Waterford last year, needed just two seasons on the inter-county scene to collect a Senior All-Ireland medal to add to the Under-21 equivalent he won in 2007.

Add in a Sigerson medal with CIT and the Munster Championship medal he won last year, as well as National League medals in 2009 and 2010, and it becomes clear that the 24-year-old is one of the most decorated young players in the game.

The Clyda Rovers clubman, however, is conscious of just how blessed he is to have had such a glorious start to his career, especially when he considers the service players like Nicholas Murphy, Graham Canty and Anthony Lynch gave to Cork football before they got to enjoy their moment in the sun.

"The time and effort we put in this year, you can only imagine doing that for 11 years and losing All-Ireland finals," Carey says.

"I think everyone involved with the team was obviously happy for themselves, but happy for the team and happy for the likes of Nicholas Murphy and Anthony Lynch who had lost All-Ireland finals.

"They finally had their All-Ireland medal and you were nearly as happy for them. I'm just delighted they finally have that All-Ireland medal."

Carey is one of five players (Eoin Cadogan, Michael Shields, Paul Kerrigan and Daniel Goudling are the others) who graduated from the 2007 U-21 All-Ireland winning team to the play in the last Sunday's final win over Down, while another four (Ken O'Halloran, Fintan Goold, Fiachra Lynch and Colm O'Neill) were also involved in the squad. He's one of the golden generation of Cork footballers who have been imbued with the winning mentality that underage success brings.

"We are a bit spoiled," he admits. "That comes from the underage as well. I suppose it's the mentality that in 2006 we got to an All-Ireland Under-21 final, in '07 we won the All-Ireland U-21 final, so I suppose winning in Cork underage is bred into you.

"We feel now that we can go on and win any game we are playing in, regardless of who we are playing. We feel that we should be beating teams. Obviously we feel a bit spoiled, especially for people who are just on the panel this year."

Carey, who graduated with a Marketing degree from CIT this year, has had a frenetic couple of days since last Sunday. He started a new job as a Marketing Executive with Pelé Sports Ireland in Glanmire this week and wasted little time in getting stuck into his new role, helping the company to launch a new shop in Dublin on Wednesday.

Despite his taxing schedule, Carey has just about had enough time to take stock of the never-to-be-forgotten events of last Sunday.

"It's just about sunk in," he says. "The reception we received on Monday and Tuesday from our supporters in Cork and below in Bantry was unbelievable.

"That made it something special and made you realise that you were part of something special and you had achieved your ultimate goal really of winning an All-Ireland medal."