GAA: Brian Corcoran has launched a scything attack on the Cork County Board for the manner in which they overlooked the candidacy of Ger Cunningham and Patsy Morrissey for the hurling manager's job.
Gerald McCarthy was ratified for the position last week, but at the launch of Corcoran's autobiography Every Single Ball at Croke Park yesterday, the hurling legend described the selection committee's failure to interview Cunningham or Morrissey (selectors under John Allen) as an "insult" and "disgraceful".
Cork reached the last four AllIreland finals, winning in 2004 and 2005, by adhering to a continuity policy that saw Allen promoted from selector to manager after Donal O'Grady stepped down in 2004. This was expected to continue into 2007 with Cunningham the initial favourite for the post. Now, a complete overhaul of the backroom, and potentially the playing staff, is expected.
"From the players' point of view there is a disappointment that, not so much no one from the previous management did not get the job, but that they were not even asked if they were interested," said Corcoran. "Ger Cunningham and Patsy Morrissey put in lot of work over the last few years and really it was a big insult not to have had some sort of interview process and at least show them some respect. Unfortunately they did not do that. They choose to snub the two of them.
"Having said that, I'm sure Gerald McCarthy will do a great job and I'm sure the players will support Gerald all the way."
The policy of promoting from within the Cork management has proved productive, but the All-Ireland final defeat to Kilkenny - when the innovative short-passing style that Cork pioneered was negated - clearly provoked a change in mindset from the county executive.
"Definitely, it's going to be a new beginning," continued Corcoran. "John Allen took over as coach and it was a seamless transformation. The backroom team remained the same . . . A lot of this is going to change now. Gerald comes in and he is going to have the right to appoint his own selectors, bar the Erin's Own representative.
"I presume he is going to have a new trainer of the panel. So I think there is likely to be a big flush out of the existing team and I suppose we are going to have to wait and see what the results are going to be like next year to decide whether this was a good idea, but it is disappointing to see how some of the existing people who worked so hard did not manage to get back in.
"Some people will say it is, perhaps, a power statement from the county board in that they had the right to decide who would take charge of the team."
Corcoran will retire, for the second time, from all hurling when Cork champions Erin's Own complete their interests in the Munster club championship. They play Clare champions Wolfe Tones on Sunday at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, when he will probably be marked by another old warrior to recently retire, Brian Lohan.
This would be a fitting battle for Corcoran to finish a distinguished career, but so would the Munster final on December 3rd, against either Mount Sion or Toomevara. Of course, an All-Ireland club semi-final or even the final on St Patrick's Day may see him hurling in 2007.
Tradition dictates the county champions nominate the Cork captain. Corcoran would have been the natural choice (an honour he experienced in 1993), but career and family commitments meant he only returned this season to attempt the three-in-a-row dream.
"I just don't have the time for it anymore. Intercounty hurling is a huge commitment. Working in Tipperary means a 140-mile round trip daily from my home. To be honest I did not think I would be able to do it for 2006 and it was a struggle.
"It required a lot of juggling and I just about got through it and I would not be able to do it for another year. I also have family commitments with three young children and I want to spend a bit more time with them.
"When you are training three or four nights a week, basically you are doing two full-time jobs, you end one at 5.30 and then out and do a second one. Obviously, one impacts on the other.
"I always said if you could plant me out there in Croke Park on All-Ireland final day I would be delighted. The problem is the nine months it takes of preparations and training to get there with no guarantees with it.
"The back door has made it a bit more sensible in that you are guaranteed three or four games a year. I have not fallen out with anyone, the game or the players. They are a great bunch of people and it was just that your priorities change."
