BRIAN CUTHBERT ADMITS that the Cork footballers ‘left a huge amount of people down’ after being comprehensively defeated in yesterday’s Munster final.
Cork suffered a chastening defeat to old rivals Kerry at home in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and as they head towards the qualifiers, their manager revealed that their entire setup will be reviewed.
“Everything is on the table for review. We’ll just have to go back and look at everything and see where we go. We’re hugely disappointed that we’ve left a huge amount of people down, especially ourselves. At times there today it must have been very difficult for the Cork supporters because that wasn’t our intention going out there.
“I’m not apologising to the Cork public because the lads went out and did their very best. You lose games – fair enough, that happens. But from the group’s point of view we’re very disappointed with what we did there.
“We looked a yard off and they turned us over quite easily. They looked sharper than us, definitely. We dust ourselves off and go again. It’s very easy to say intensity and effort and all of those kinds of things but Kerry were much better than us today. Hats off to them.”
The signs were more encouraging for Cork early in the second-half as they reeled off three points without reply but Kerry halted their comeback and reigned supreme once more.
“I though we were back in control of the game,” outlined Cuthbert. “We hadn’t been in control for 25 minutes but then they went down the field and they seemed to have more space and opened us up. They played a very simple game but they were much better at it than us.
“Kerry were on top around the middle of the field. The team can’t function without the ball going forward. It’s causing us fierce problems and it’s something we’re going to have to sort out. On the day we were beaten all over the field and no one can say they were on top of their men. We were beaten in every battle.”
Cork’s season will resume on July 26th with a qualifier tie against Tipperary, Limerick, Laois or Sligo.
“We’ve no choice but to dust ourselves off and go again,” reasoned Cuthbert. “It’s going to be to try to get the August Bank Holiday weekend. It’s going to be very difficult after a double-score defeat. It’s a case of starting a new season from scratch again.”
They bloody well better offer him more than a one year deal! He’s been brilliant after the turmoil of the Keane tenure, also I imagine Friendy is a big part of why players would join.
The IRFU need to cop on and tie down the good coaches to long term contracts. Oh and sign the players too. Stop importing players for 2 seasons and promote from within
I hope the IRFU find the funds to keep him longer. Nigel Carolan would be another option.
@Con Cussed: yeah Nigel is an option, but the question remains whether his preference is hands on coaching rather than top management. His track record has been good enough for years to have had Head Coach job offers elswere, but he’s stayed in Galway. My feeling is he loves what he does and isn’t interested in the politics of the top job, could be 100% wrong of course. Jimmy Duffy is established too. Shame the timing was out for Dan McFarland, because he would fit back in perfectly. All the above is conjecture of course, first preference is to keep Friendy. Love what he’s doing and especially the contagious positive vibe he exudes from every pore…..
Suspect Friend will be returning to Australia at the end of the current season. He was very annoyed about the failure to win the game vs Munster last weekend off that final scrum and his pique at his onfield leaders botching (yet again) an end of game opportunity was noticeable. I wonder if he feels he’s taken them as far as he can. I do hope he stays. He’s a great man manager, but a 1 year contract extension offer would force him to look elsewhere, and will the IRFU offer him a 2 year contract – I doubt it.
@David Finn: If the IRFU are serious they have to stop these 1-2 year deals. It gives the wrong message to those receiving them. Keep Friendly at Connacht or resign. The politics at the IRFU does not help in these situations.