With dead rubbers aplenty in the last round of the Allianz Leagues, particularly in hurling, Cork are one of the few counties with something at stake in both codes.
Not that you’d necessarily know it. The live TV cameras will descend on SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh for a de facto League semi-final for the hurlers against Galway this evening. A big attendance is expected; a crowd of 23,402 turned out at the venue for their draw with Limerick earlier in the competition, 22,193 for the win over Kilkenny.
Meanwhile, the footballers travel to Cavan tomorrow afternoon needing a win to put as much distance as possible between them and the Tailteann Cup. Their support could nearly travel up in the one car.
You may say that that’s the reality of one team being on the up and competing at the back end of the Championship while the other flatlines at best, but not quite in Cork, as Eoin Cadogan, who played for both for several years, points out.
“There's much more optimism probably from a hurling perspective than football,” he says. “And that was the case when we were winning football All-Irelands and the hurlers weren't. So you've got to reference those things too.”
For illustration, he recounts an episode from when Cork footballers were at the top of the pile while the hurlers were the also-rans.
“John Hayes recently referenced, he said, when we won the All-Ireland in 2010, our first League game in 2011, there were 3,000 people there as All-Ireland champions. Do you know what I mean?
“So it's never been a case where we've had thousands of followers or thousands of people there supporting us. The negative narrative is very easily jumped on when it comes to Cork football.
“We were competing in All-Ireland finals in 2009, 2010, 2007 and it still wasn't considered good enough by some people outside of Cork. We won multiple League titles during that time. Again, we underachieved. It wasn't good enough.
“So it very much depends on your narrative. I'm sure the players and the management are doing everything they can.”
Although last weekend’s win over Louth means that they are unlikely to be relegated from Division Two tomorrow, the vagaries of the provincial system mean that a sixth place finish is unlikely to keep them out of the Tailteann Cup. Some might say that that’s where they ought to be, but Cadogan believes it would be damaging to the status and morale of the game in the county.
“I think so, yeah. I do. I do. I just think that a huge amount of proud Cork football people, West Cork has been renowned for being the feeder towards Cork football teams over the years.
“Look at Castlehaven, the run that they got on, the Munster club and moving on from that. That would be just my opinion on it. Maybe I'm delusional or maybe I have my Cork GAA glasses on me but I never see it as a positive, really, even from a morale perspective to be going down.
“Some people would say, well maybe that's just your level. But I think that you need to aspire big and I think with the tradition that we have within Cork that ambition and aspiration should be competing in Sam Maguire.”
The hurlers, without a major trophy in seven years and with no All-Ireland in 20, can always tap into local affections effortlessly. That they haven’t won the League since 1998 is much less bothersome to those on Leeside but bridging that gap by winning tonight and beating Tipperary in the final might be a catalyst for greater things later in the year.
This week, Patrick Horgan spoke of how Cork need to win silverware to be taken seriously.
“Definitely, yeah,” says Cadogan, a BoyleSports ambassador. “I couldn't disagree with that. I think that a League final or a League medal would be a brilliant momentum shift in terms of the run-in that they're going to have for the Munster Championship. It didn't do Clare any harm last year.
“I see it as only being a plus really. I see them being exposed to another top-quality Munster team in Tipperary. Again, you can't beat games.
“I think that having silverware would be, not justification, but it might be the building blocks in terms of parking and last year’s All-Ireland final defeat and showing that they've progressed to this stage and then going again to another level once the Munster Championship kicks off.”
With a background in strength and conditioning and having coached at club level, currently with Cashel King Cormacs, Cadogan harbours hopes of being involved with Cork again but admits that it’s “a long way off”.
“Would it be an ambition or aspiration? Most certainly at some point, but again, I'd be a big believer in that you have to learn your trade and learn your stripes and show that you're bringing value to the club game and making club players better before anyone would consider you at that level.”
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