Now, Cork has won the last four Munster under 21 titles, beating Kerry, on the way, on three occasions. The exception was this year when Kerry were sensationally eliminated by unfancied Clare in the first round. Despite this only one Cork player from that four year period of dominance was included in the team that started the All-Ireland final!  That was Michael Shields. Yet, six players from the same period were handed the green and gold jersey. The same applied to the substitutes listed.

Some scribes have been pedalling the idea that this Cork team is still a very young one. Indeed members of the management play the same tune. Of course, it is just a smokescreen. The reality is than on average the Kerry fifteen that started in Croke Park is one year younger than that of Cork. The same applies to the fifteen listed substitutes! Sure, they may have more miles on the clock but there are some Cork players who have also travelled many miles in their county's cause.

The point is that we should face reality and not be deluding ourselves and sticking our heads in the sand. There is a big job to be done if this Cork team is to be resurrected. There are men on that team who deserve nothing but the best. They have given their all over a long number of years in the cause of the jerseys they wear. It must be galling for them to see inferior players, from across the county bounds, pocketing All-Ireland medals while they can but stand by and watch. The least the players can expect is that the members of the team management all pull together in the same direction and if only half of the rumours, now circulating, are to be believed that does not seem to have been so in the year just gone by. In fact the direct opposite would appear to have been the case. The real losers in these situations are the players. That is the unfortunate reality. I have had experience of being part of happy selection commitments and, sadly, of also being involved in one that were not so happy. Invariably the happy ones were the successful ones. Players are the first to sense when all is not well and it generally tends to have the effect of ensuring that an air of gloom pervades the whole camp. It can be most destructive. Abraham Lincoln was right when he famously said on the issue of slavery, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” It takes everybody pulling together to have any chance of winning an All-Ireland. Divided and fragmented the chances are virtually nil. Team managements should put the interests of the players above and beyond their own egos. These are the men who really count at the end of the day. Considering the effort they are asked to put in these days they deserve nothing but the best.

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