James Masters set to be added to the Cork senior football backroom team

FORMER Cork footballer James Masters is set to be added to the Cork senior football backroom team ahead of the 2024 season.

The Nemo Rangers clubman lined out for the Cork seniors for five years from 2005-2010 with the sharpshooter making 26 championship appearances as he finished up with a tally of 6-80. Masters left the Cork panel in March 2010 citing a lack of game time as the reason. He had become a peripheral figure in the set-up throughout 2009 with the emergence of younger players reducing him to the role of a substitute.

Masters was a selector under the then Cork minor football boss Bobbie O’Dwyer when the Rebels won the All-Ireland title in 2019. The Nemo Rangers clubman followed O'Dwyer up to the U20s at the end of 2021 where he was a selector for the 2022 season. Masters stepped down from the role ahead of the 2023 championship campaign.

Masters has a good knowledge of Cork football and given he has donned the Rebel geansaí in the past helps. Masters role will be a kicking coach for the forwards. Cork manager John Cleary is heading into his second full season at the helm as the Rebels look to build on a relatively progressive few years. Cork’s first game in the Allianz Division 2 league will be away to Donegal on Sunday, January 28 in Ballybofey at 1.45pm.

Cork face Limerick in the Munster quarter-final at the TUS Gaelic Grounds next year with the winners meeting Kerry in the last four.