Colin Corkery: Nemo legend on underage coaching, new rules and Cork's chances this year
Colin Corkery lands a free against Kerry at Fitzgerald Stadium. Picture: Damien Eagers/Sportsfile
There is a long list of talented football players that have graced the sport over many years but for Nemo Rangers stalwart Colin Corkery nowadays is about giving something back to his beloved club Nemo Rangers.
Winner of four Cork senior counties and two All-Ireland club titles, he is currently the manager of Nemo’s U21 football side.
“I just followed many former greats of Nemo who gave something back to the club and the list is endless for me to name them but that’s what we try to do when we are finished playing,” Corkery said.
The present Nemo U21 team are a squad that includes his son Ross but Colin has coached the majority of them for many years.
“I have been with them since U16 with Steven O’Brien and last season we were defeated by Bishopstown but such is life a little bit more preparation would have helped us,” added Colin.
Development among players is very important according to Corkery.
“I think our philosophy is all about developing players that will one day represent the club at senior level as if we get three players every year we are doing well.
“Just take Darragh O’Sullivan who is part of the U21 team but is actually also playing minor this season and you can see he has what it takes to go to the top.”
Colin’s son Ross is a serious talent along with Bryan Hayes, Daniel Molloy and Colin Quinn all coming through the Nemo programme from a young age.
When asked about an update on the injury that has sidelined his son Ross Colin responded.
“We are hoping he will be back in April following his hip injury [osteoporosis]. He got it in the senior championship last season and although he battled through the pain barrier to the county final he certainly wasn’t right.”
The introduction of the new rules is a huge positive for Corkery.
“There is an advantage for teams going forward as the good players will come to the fore and it comes back to the old days where the backs had one-on-one battles.”
Corkery pointed out that there is a skill in defending where you had some great match-ups against the marquee forwards.
“I think we will see more discipline as shouting at referees will not be tolerated but I think for me we needed to get away from the blanket defending.”
The psyche of football coaching has suddenly changed to attack.
“For me, referees who are handling games need linesman as they cannot watch everything that’s going on but yes I am delighted with the new format.
“To be honest down the line they may need two referees like they have in Australia but for now we will take what they have come up with."
After having a good inter-county career Corkery had some interesting views on the present standard of football at that level.
“To be honest in the last few years the game has dipped as Nemo recently did an archive on their website and my youngest son Morgan pointed out to me about the drop in attendances.
“When we played championship games in Bandon you wouldn’t get in and in those days you could have 4,000 in attendance but in recent years you would be lucky to have 400.
The cost of attending games didn’t go unnoticed.
“The powers to be are charging up to €35 to see a championship game and even myself the last game I attended was against Louth and to be honest it was the poorest game I had seen in years.”
The recent withdrawal of players from the Cork senior football panel is a difficult situation for the management.
“In my book, you have players with the hurlers that maybe should be with the footballers and there is a trend in Cork that hurling has risen above football and basically guys cannot be playing it once they are involved with the small ball.
“I think John Cleary is a good guy and he is more than capable of coaching at the top level and let's hope we see him getting the results he deserves in what is a demanding environment at the top tier of football.”
App?
