Christy O'Connor: Cork changed their approach to fitness last winter but will it pay off?
Cork manager Pat Ryan made a change in his backroom last winter. Picture: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
A FEW weeks after Cork exited the Munster championship last May, Pat Ryan was already planning ahead, contacting Ian Jones with a view to him coming on board as head S&C coach for the 2024 season.
Cork have had some top-quality S&C coaches in their set-up in recent years but Ryan wanted something different, someone with a level of experience that could offer that something different.
Jones had certainly accumulated that worldliness during his career, having worked with Hockey Ireland, London Welsh RFC, USA Rugby, Penn State University, NFL sides the Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans as well as the Salt Lake Stallions, Wagner College and the University of New Orleans.
Jones’s experience in the NFL was bound to bring something different to Cork, particularly given the level of detail involved, and the explosive power and incredible strength of NFL players. But Ryan also appreciated that Cork had to be different if results were to be different.
With that extra bank of work done, Cork were expected to do better in the league, but Ryan – like every manager – had always targeted his team to hit the ground running now. So are Cork ready to do so? More importantly, are they ready to sustain it?
The spring showed that some of the creases from last year, long fadeouts and scoring lulls, still hadn’t been fully ironed out. So have they been? Are Cork better conditioned now to last, and sustain the pace, for their next four games inside just 28 days?
Given the quality and ferocity of the Munster championship, no team is expected to consistently keep their foot pressed to the gas throughout the campaign.
Limerick showed that last year when the three games they won in Munster (including the final) were by margins of one (twice) and two points.
Managing those emotions, and how certain teams react to setbacks, is what ultimately distinguishes how well – or how well set up – a team will do in a condensed championship format.
There are challenges everywhere. Some teams struggle to mentally and physically recover well enough from such a big effort the previous weekend. Getting to that pitch of emotional engagement every week, or even with a two-week break, is difficult even for some of the top players.
That challenge is all the greater again if players are struggling with injuries, but one of the big advantages that Cork have is the depth to their panel, and having so many options for different positions.
Yet confidence still comes from consistency, and the bulk of the team playing consistently well – not in making constant changes in the search for that consistency. Cork do have the broad range of options to radically shake up their starting team at any stage of the championship.
But does that hamper fluency and rhythm? Is that part of the reason Cork have been so inconsistent in games over the last year?
If Cork are fitter and stronger – which is what Ryan aimed for them to be – that should also feed into the squad being more mentally resolute and resilient.
Sunday is another challenge but Cork’s preparations have gone well. Yet so have Waterford’s. On the same weekend that Cork beat Galway in UL by one point recently, Waterford drew with Wexford.
Even if Cork were able to glean some information from that game, challenge matches are very hard to gauge. But one of the biggest difficulties Cork face now is the uncertainty of what kind of a challenge they will face from Waterford – both in terms of personnel and tactics.
What is Davy Fitzgerald going to do? The game he has tried to roll out with Waterford hasn’t worked, especially when they drag so many bodies down the field and Waterford try and run the ball through so much traffic.
That’s unlikely to work against Cork but, while Fitzgerald is unlikely to want to change, he may do so if the players have asked for a more conventional approach - especially when pushing higher up the field suits the talent at their disposal.
If Waterford do go man-for-man up front, they have the players to really trouble that Cork defence.
They have as many good players as Cork. They have plenty of scoring forwards.
Have Cork got the balance right? Ryan is also still learning, especially when there is a key balance to be struck between going hard, not going hard enough, or going too hard.
Were Cork fresh enough last summer when it came down to the last two matches in Munster? Or did they need to change the direction of their approach, both in the gym and on the field?
Having picked up so many injuries during the winter and spring of 2022-’23 through so much tackling and contact work, Jones focussed more on getting more miles into the legs. Bringing in a new S&C coach is always bound to force a review but Cork clearly upped the ante around numerous different aspects of their preparation.
Will it work? Sunday will tell a great deal.
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