Ronan McCarthy and Cork trying to block out the ‘noise’ of naysayers

Once again, the Cork football management and players find themselves being hit with brickbats from all directions.

Ronan McCarthy and Cork trying to block out the ‘noise’ of naysayers

Once again, the Cork football management and players find themselves being hit with brickbats from all directions.

Where the dire state of the Páirc Uí Chaoimh pitch deflected from their inability to get the better of 14-man Kildare in round two of the league, there was no hiding place following the 3-13 to 1-10 defeat away to Clare.

It was the third consecutive spring where Cork had come off second best to the Banner.

An unheard of run of results.

Not surprisingly, referee Paddy Neilan had no sooner brought proceedings to a close in Ennis when the floodgates reopened and Cork football once again found itself subject to widespread scalding.

Former Tyrone captain Seán Cavanagh was on RTÉ Sunday Sport duty that afternoon and labelled as “frightening” the decline of Cork football.

“I remember playing Cork up in Omagh in 2015 and they were the best team in Division 1,” recalled the three-time All-Ireland winner.

“How the wheels have come off in the last few years is frightening. It is going to take a fair intervention to get the wheels back going because they are going to find themselves in Division 3 very quickly. Who knows where it goes after there. It is just an embarrassment for Cork football at the minute.”

Later that evening on RTÉ League Sunday, Joe Brolly remarked that with all the “mumbo jumbo” contained in the county’s recently published 2024 vision document, “is it any wonder Cork football is in the state it’s in”.

Two days later, this newspaper carried a chat with Larry Tompkins where the former Cork captain said some of the current footballers “are too soft to really make it happen”.

The two-time All-Ireland winner also stated his belief that desire to succeed in the Cork jersey is severely lacking.

Cork manager Ronan McCarthy didn’t have the radio on nor was he flicking through the papers in the days after the Clare defeat to see what was being said and written about his group, but does admit that it was difficult to totally avoid the criticism given its volume.

“Some people are genuine in their commentary, other people have a go for the sake of having a go,” the Cork manager begun.

“People who are a long time in the game and should know better, you’d be astonished really how ignorant they are about it.”

Of course, neither McCarthy nor his players are shying away from the source of this criticism. The feebleness of their challenge a fortnight ago was nowhere near acceptable, nor is a run of results which shows they haven’t won a competitive fixture - leaving aside the pre-season McGrath Cup - since May 26 of last year. Both are part of a much longer malaise, as Cork have won only five of their last 17 Division 2 league fixtures.

“You have to accept [criticism] when a team doesn’t perform well, players have to accept it. It is the constructive type that you’ll take on board. The other stuff, the having a go without any real solutions or any real knowledge of what’s going on, you just take it for what it is - noise.”

Suggestions that his team are lacking heart, is one that infuriates McCarthy

“The players are working incredibly hard. That is how you show heart, by coming back from disappointments and coming back from setbacks and giving it your all. That is what they are doing and have been doing every night for months. But you have to win games and until you win games, you are going to be on the receiving end of criticism, some of it which is justified, some not.

“This group of players are 100% committed and when they have had setbacks, they’ve not been afraid to face up to them and we did that last week.”

No more than he did at the outset of the league, and has done on numerous occasions throughout his 18-month tenure, McCarthy reaffirmed his view that this Cork team is home to a litany of top inter-county footballers.

The frustration is, collectively, Cork are not putting their best foot forward on match-day and haven’t been doing so for a while now. Indeed, such are the knockbacks they’ve endured on the field, in the stands, on the airwaves and in column inches, is confidence an issue among his group?

“I simplify it down: we are doing everything we can to make it right. We are working hard and the talent is there. Let’s see can we start the ball rolling on Saturday. Let’s see can we get the players to express themselves and let their talents show out on the pitch. Let us focus on performance and getting the most out of what I believe to be a really talented bunch of players.

“The team could really flourish if we got a run of wins together, but nobody is going to hand it to us and we’ve got to go and do it ourselves.” In terms of the visit of Meath this evening, does this round four fixture amount to a Cup final given Cork have taken one point from a possible six and find themselves rooted to the bottom of the Division 2 table?

“I don’t think so. The top team is only on four points so a couple of wins would bring you right back into the mix very quickly. Six points is still the magic number in terms of safety.

“All I want is for the lads to go out and play with positivity and conviction, to leave it all out there, to go for the game and if we are second best, so be it, but my belief is that if we get that out of the players, we’ll beat lots of teams.”

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