My routine when I landed into Croke Park was always one of structure and process. I was a creature of habit. I got security from whatever nuggets of familiarity I could find on those big days. They kept me focused. I used them as stepping stones to get me as far as the start of the match.
I would always sit in the same seat in the dressingroom, to the right of Eoin Larkin. After getting a match-day programme from our kitman 'Rackard' Cody, I would walk slowly down the corridor and out the tunnel and position myself on one of the allocated seats for the players in the first few rows of the Hogan Stand. I would take in the atmosphere, let it in, absorb it.
That’s when I would flick through the programme and find the page with the teams laid out. I would zone in on my opponent on the team line-ups. I would have known all week who I’d be on – all week and maybe longer, depending on how long the build-up had been. But there was something about sitting in the stadium with the minor match playing away and the atmosphere rising that made it more real. Here I was. And looking down, there he was.
The weakest part of my game was my speed, or the severe lack of it. I had one gear and that was forward
The name would lock me in. John Mullane. Damien Hayes. Ben O'Connor. Lar Corbett. Andrew O'Shaughnessy. It was always at this point that I got a bit more tense and slightly fearful for what lay ahead. And the reason was the same every time – the one thing that always jumped out when you saw these names.
Pace! They were all top hurlers obviously but I always felt that I could live with skill. Pace was a different problem though. The weakest part of my game was my speed, or the severe lack of it. I had one gear and that was forward. I spent my career trying to survive in a world of speed and pace.
Primarily, I spent it trying to ensure I wasn’t caught out by pure lightning running. It was there, in my head, at all times. If this guy gets the ball in his hand in the right circumstances and goes, he will do me. It fairly concentrates the mind.
Lots of times I got burnt. It was inevitable. These guys were the top forwards in the country and part of the reason they made it to the top of the pile was their ability to skate past corner backs and score. It was always a part of their game plan.
So on some level, there was always an acceptance that they would get their chances here and there. The key was to minimise the damage. I used other ways to counteract it. Aggression, anticipation, good decision-making, outside help. As a set of six backs, we worked together to reduce space and opportunities for forwards.
I always saw the battle to defend as coming down to two wars. The first war was to get the ball first. The second came along if you didn’t get there first and it boiled down to how you used yourself to dispossess the attacker. But when pace was your enemy, sometimes if you lost the first war, that was it. The speed of the attacker left you with no plan B.
I hadn't the speed of Paul Murphy, Ollie Canning or Brian Murphy. So essentially my whole battle was focused on the first war. I could never stand back and give myself the luxury of knowing I could use my speed to catch them.
Speed was so important back then but it's more important now. It's an essential for the game, throughout the pitch. With teams emptying out large portions of the pitch to leave space for pacy forwards to spin on to ball, I'm not sure I would survive in this world. A foot race with Dessie Hutchison or Jack O'Connor would keep me awake at night.
Across the landscape of the hurling world, one team stands out because of their abundance and use of pace. That's Cork boi! There is so much pace in this team, it's frightening. And I'm not just talking about pace in attack – Cork have pace everywhere. Seán O'Donoghue, Tim O'Mahony, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Luke Meade, Robbie O'Flynn, Jack O'Connor. You're talking about players who easily clock a norm of around nine-to-10 metres per second in full flight. That is where you need to be in the world of intercounty to survive.
This Cork team run with method and purpose. It is the glue sticking together everything they do
So in just over two seconds these guys can travel from the end line to the 21. Most Premier League players would be above 10 but the likes of O’Donoghue have been clocked at 9.7 metres per second. Cork are the fastest hurling team in the country. I’d imagine they’re not far off being the fastest hurling team there has ever been at intercounty level.
Having pace is one thing. Using it properly is another. Pace can be used to tear teams apart but always can be used in the wrong way. Running for the sake of it. I marked players who broke the speed barrier running to the corner because they didn’t want to really know about it. Running to be seen to be running. Running so that afterwards, people would say they never stopped running no matter how bad things were going.
But this Cork team run with method and purpose. It is the glue sticking together everything they do. It's the bones of their attack, using their pace to create space for the runners to come from deep. Think of O'Mahony's goal against Dublin – all those runners in the Cork attack when he broke the tackle past Liam Rushe meant that there was no defender in sight. Cork's pace had dragged them all over the place.
Or think of Jack O'Connor's goal against Clare. When he rounded Rory Hayes, it didn't matter that Clare had an extra man back in John Conlon. They just couldn't get near him because (a) he was too fast and (b) the other Cork players were running with speed and purpose in different directions and had to be covered. Nobody was running for the sake of running.
What really makes Cork dangerous though is the fact that they have as much pace in defence as they have in attack. Their defence has moulded together nicely but O’Donoghue and Niall O’Leary have been key for me. They both have huge pace – and again, they use it intelligently.
First of all, they have that luxury that I never had, whereby they know in the back of their head that their pace can get them out of trouble. So this allows them to take more risks and get on the front foot more easily. That’s basic stuff.
But on top of it, their pace allows them to run the ball out from the back from puck-outs. They're happy to take a ball off Patrick Collins and go, using speed and footwork to beat the tackle of the forward trying to be the first line of the opposition defence. And the way they set up, with Mark Coleman sitting in the D, they have a lot of confidence moving the ball.
This is a new development for Cork. Coleman is there as an option for a pass but also as a security blanket. Cork haven't had that for a long time. The centre back position has been a revolving door for a lot of the past decade – they've tried Mark Ellis, Christopher Joyce, even Bill Cooper. They've never really known what they wanted from the player in that position so a hard job was made even harder.
But now they have a consistent six and they are familiar with him. Their pace allows them to push up and press roving attackers. It all means that the soft space that existed before where an attacker would pick up a loose ball isn’t as evident as years gone by.
They aren’t the finished article but they are landing on the sweet spots they want in some key areas. Using their legs to create pockets of space for puck-outs. Sending runners from deep. Full of confidence in defence, pressing their opponents hard.
At one stage in the second half the last day, Dublin looked to work the ball out and who was there to turn the ball over only O’Leary. He had tracked his man high up the field, beat him to possession and popped it over the bar. All that action was inside the Dublin 65, which shows the faith they have in Coleman to mind the house. And the faith they have in O’Leary to get back if he makes a mistake.
Even when they weren't up to much, Cork always had this beautiful belief that's laced with arrogance. They believe they are better
This is all a real shift in emphasis and strategy for Cork. Think of how they had Conor Lehane for years, a guy who had pace but didn't always use it. Whether they didn't fit him into the right structure or whether he was one of those run-for-the-sake-of-running players, it doesn't really matter. When it came down to it, his pace didn't make the impact for Cork that was needed. Not often enough or consistently enough.
This Cork set-up looks to be different. It looks like there is no room for the type of talented but patchy players they have had in the past. Someone like Aidan Walsh could look like the real deal one day but huff and puff the next. He is no longer there either.
I think this will all have a huge effect on Sunday. Kilkenny struggled with pace last year when Waterford ran at them in the second half. They had no answer and holes appeared where we didn’t even see a crack in the first half. That will be an area Kilkenny will need to focus on and be very conscious of.
This Cork team are dangerous. Even when they weren’t up to much, Cork always had this beautiful belief that’s laced with arrogance. They believe they are better. They don’t need a trip or two to Croke Park to sustain that belief. There’s no such thing as you have to lose one to win one. “We are Cork boi, why wouldn’t we win?”
That’s always been their mantra and as an outsider, you have to hate it but also admire it. They’re not quiet about it, that’s for sure. I hope we aren’t hearing “The Banks” on Sunday evening among the 24,000 spectators in Croke Park.
But if their running game and pace is used to full effect, I fear that could well be the case.
