Cork Football under Conor Counihane...

Prior to his tenancy as Cork football manager Counihane's legacy to Cork was as what OMAR might describe "a domestique".
Years in the trenches, possibly a Celtic Cross or two, and then the big job.....

From a personal perspective, having been "ring-side" against Dublin in 2010 (See Thread) to my mind Counihane's decisions were of the County Board's calling. In the case in point, Boxty clearly observed the Cork Secretary writing out the substituion slips 40 yds. away from Counihan as play progressed...

Then the hoors lay down in front of Kerry in the league......

Boxtyeater wrote:Prior to his tenancy as Cork football manager Counihane's legacy to Cork was as what OMAR might describe "a domestique".
Years in the trenches, possibly a Celtic Cross or two, and then the big job.....

From a personal perspective, having been "ring-side" against Dublin in 2010 (See Thread) to my mind Counihane's decisions were of the County Board's calling. In the case in point, Boxty clearly observed the Cork Secretary writing out the substituion slips 40 yds. away from Counihan as play progressed...

Then the hoors lay down in front of Kerry in the league......

liable to blow hot or cold on any given day Boxty, watched them destroy Tyrone in 2009 at Croker, and then ventured down to Croker to watch them in the final against rivals Kerry, they never turned up at all. Counihan is a one trick pony as far as management was concerned, wasnt a terribly gifted footballer either but thats another story.

They have Plan A and when that doesnt work they are fooked big time. Said it many times before those guys on the Cork team should have several Celtic Crosses at this juncture instead of the one they managed against Down

I really feel Counihan's reign has been massively under-rated. Managed to put together a squad capable of winning the big one. At least two trophies a year throughout his tenure, albeit only one Sam. In 2012 they were stopped from the sweep by a Donegal team that lifted Sam. The way in which they were stopped was because their bombs away attack supported by runs wasn't effective. Cork however did try to be different, in the opening 20 minutes their focus was far more on passing around the 45 before advancing. They have been working on this aspect again this year. If it shows development come the summer, and their route to the quarter finals is hardly perilous (rough probabilities would give them a 75% chance of getting there, would need to get one of my math nerd friends to try and work out an exact number) means they have time to develop between now and the August bank holiday. If they go out the same way as they went out a year ago, then certainly it would indicate a need to change the man at the helm, but for now I rate him highly.

Hi guys,

Tactical preview of Cork vs Mayo up here [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Emmet

I think he is tactically short myself. One Sam (to date) is a poor return for this set of players and also bear in mind that Cork's QF possibilities are very high every year given their lone opponents in Munster.

On paper, Counihan's record of 8 trophies over his first 5 years is very good:

1 AI; 3 Munster titles; 1 x Division Two League title; 3 x Division One league titles.

His league form is particularly impressive, having won his division in all but his first year in charge (that was the year that Cork forfeited their first couple of games in division 2 due to the strike).

On the contrary, you could question how he has only one AI title amidst all that consistency, and even that was a real stumble over the line effort against Down. Their only other final appearance was a poor showing against Kerry in 2009 when they choked, which Boxty points out they also did last week in the league. It should also be recognised that Counihan inherited a good side - yes, Billy Morgan's team were well beaten in the 2007 AI final, but they were generally regarded as being one of the top 4-5 teams in the country when Counihan took the reigns.

On balance, I think that Counihan has done a fairly good job with Cork, but in the same sense that John Maughan did a fairly good job with Mayo, and Art McRory did a fairly good job with Tyrone. He has identified the benefits of having a physically imposing side of athletes, and has managed to keep them sufficiently focused to dominate the league for the last few years. He does have one AI, and his chances of defending that title were destroyed by injuries to his key forwards. Counihan is also a manager who is willing to give youth a chance, having started players like Aidan Walsh, Colm O'Neill and Ciaran Sheehan much sooner than a number of other managers would.

However, I do agree with those who suspect that he is somewhat lacking in terms of tactics. His Cork teams, while playing attacking football, have seemed to be all effort and no guile, running into blind alleys more often than not. I notice that they are playing much more defensively this year, with a much deeper half forward line. It will be interesting to see how this works out for them in the summer, but I suspect it is more a case of just pulling bodies back rather than having any real plan of what do do when they are back there.

So, for me, Counihan has done reasonably well, but I think that there are several managers who may have done more given the strong hand with which he is playing, particularly in the white heat of August/September football.

Re: Dublin v Cork

Boxtyeater on Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:34 pm
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I was sitting about 4 rows back from the pitch, directly behind the Cork Co.Board officials, Marty Morrissey and other luminaries.
Now maybe I'm wrong, but I was left to wonder what authority Counihan has in this Cork set-up. Frank Murphy wrote out the notes for substitutions, stepped across and handed them to Gearoid O'Conamha, while another geezer, unknown to me (track suited) summoned the ongoing sub from his seat behind me.
All of these substitutions were effected while Counihan was moping around 10/15 yds. away, half on/off the pitch with his head down.....He did not appear to be wearing one of them speaker phone thingys either....

Cork won because they finished stronger, made less mistakes and retained their discipline better. The consistent booing of the Cork freetaker was unwelcome and spoiled the occasion somewhat......That said, the Boxtyeater entourage repaired to a noble hostelry, Bowe's in Fleet Street, where a grand little crowd relived the day, the Dubs not too downcast and the Rebels not overly cocky....

I was chatting to my brother and others about this over the weekend at a family wedding, at which we had to rely on smartphones for updates, and as the news was filtering through how well Galway were performing I put forward my own view on Counihan which no one disputed.

Although the man has an enviable record in the National League, his record in the Championship is poor. As Thomas Clarke has alluded to, they just about managed to beat Down and maybe we beat ourselves a little bit on the day with missed opportunities in the first half. Cork were poor against Roscommon at the QF stage in 2010 too, and scraped past Dublin.

The fact of the matter is that Cork have been blessed with some of the best forwards in the country and, in my view, they have the best pool of forwards in Gaelic Football. Pick 6 from Daniel Goulding, Colm O'Neill, Paddy Kelly, Ciaran Sheehan, Paul Kerrigan, Donnacha O'Connor, Pearse O'Neill, Fintan Goold. Add into the mix Aidan Walsh, who has ruined my day on plenty of occassions, not least the U21 and Senior All-Irelands he delivered for Cork against Down, and Michael Shields who for me is one of the best full-backs I've seen.

Canty, O'Leary, Kissane, are a bit long in the tooth now maybe but the long and the short of it is that he hasn't delivered the success this crop of players are capable of.

I think part of Counihan's current problem is that the men he has trusted for years aren't good enough anymore, and the younger lads aren't convincing when they get their chances. It's a bit like what Tyrone have experienced over the last couple of years.

EBI, of the forwards you named, there are quite a few there who aren't playing well, most notably Donnacha O'Connor & Daniel Goulding, yet younger lads like Sean Hurley, John O'Rourke & Mark Collins haven't really staked claims to replace them. Cork's best forward is Ciaran Sheehan, but there are few others who you would say are playing well just now.

The same goes for the defence, where Kissane, Canty and O'Leary still look better than young Cahalane and Clancy, despite not being as good as they once were.

I just feel that Cork are in poor shape at present. They may click into gear as there is still talent in the squad, but I'd nearly go as far as to suggest that of the 8 teams left in the AI, they are in the biggest mess.

Was virtually pitch side for the jersey exchange on Saturday ( reference previous TC valid comment reference bizarre location of family tickets) anyway I digress
The physique of some if the old guard falls short if a 90's benchmark let alone the modern era.
Love handles have no place in Croker in August.

only seen the last 20 minutes of this game - Galway were 3 up when we got in to Croker and to say they were coasting was an understatement. They had one or two goal opportunities but opted to go for the point instead.

They were going through the middle of the Cork defence time after time with ease, reminded me of the statement Martin McHugh coined a few years back about driving a lorry load of hay through the Down defence.

Galway gave away a stupid goal, dont know what the keeper was at and the game turned and suddenly Galway were on the back foot and very much deflated.

The goal which Meehan scored at the death was a stone wall penalty, not that it really mattered but the ref went into consult the umpires when there was a t least 8 men between them and the incident, they couldn't possibly have seen what happened and in fact the ref had a better view from where he was.

I was reading the programa s i waited for the game to end and noted that number 24 25 and 26 on the Cork panel were Paddy Kelly Donnacha O'Connor and Paul Kerrigan - how time shave changed!!!!

Dublin should deal with Cork easily but you somehow get the impression they will raise their game for this one.

Thought Whelan analysed the Cork defence quite well on Sunday night.
They had a swarm of four men in close proximity but not tackling the player in possession

The langers couldn't deal with the tribes pace on Saturday till late in the game how are they going to deal with dublin's 70 mins plus .2 apes in midfield won't worry the dubs one side step and ther gone.dublin by 7 no contest next please