Cork v Tipperary: Conor Lehane ready if called upon

While injuries hampered him in the early part of this year, the latter stages of Cork’s championship run have seen Conor Lehane prove his worth to the squad again.

A shoulder problem during the league was followed by a hamstring issue leading into the championship and the Midleton man didn’t feature at all in the Munster SHC round-robin games against Clare, Tipperary or Limerick.

Lehane (32) scored a point in a late cameo against Waterford and then, having been introduced in the closing stages of normal time in the drawn Munster final against Limerick, he shone in extra time before nailing an important penalty in the shooutout.

Another scoring appearance from the bench in the All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin has left him in a good place and, while he knows he’s unlikely to start against Tipperary on Sunday, he is ready if called upon.

“Every player that's involved wants to be getting as much game time as humanly possible,” he says, “everyone wants to be impacting positively, and when it doesn't happen, you'd be heartbroken in a way.

“But that's the whole gig, it's sport, it's not meant to be this kind of nice ‘everyone gets a go’. Every player here has experienced the highs and lows of coming on hopefully with a big win on the team and others not coming on at all and mentally dealing with that.

“But like, every game is done, you park it, you go again and hopefully you'll push on for the training sessions to impress them in a way that they say, look, I saw something in training there that we might need in that game, and then they'll pick you the next time and that's the way you look at it.

“It is tough when you don't get your chance but when you do get your chance, whether it's ten minutes, a minute, 20 minutes, it's just whatever impact you can. If it's just a big tackle and you win back a free, that's huge for the momentum of a team.

“If you're lucky enough to get a score, that's brilliant. But at the end of the day, you've been in situations where scores have happened and you mightn’t have won. You might have slacked in something, tracking back, and all of a sudden, someone got a point next thing, and that's still no good really to anyone.

“It's not good to the panel so it has to be what's required on the day and the type of game that's being played at the time.”

After Limerick had scored their first two penalties in the shootout while Darragh Fitzgibbon had missed for Cork, there was a lot riding on Lehane’s shot but he made no mistake.

“It was unreal to experience that,” he says, “especially the way I'd been out for a while and not really involved and then when the opportunity came, you don't be thinking about that at the time because you’d be a bag of nerves otherwise.

“To be involved in the way it ended, the aftermath and the dressing room and stuff, it's worth any bit of hardship you went through throughout the year to experience that.

“And I know it's not guaranteed but when it did happen, you just try and take in the moment as best as you can and then even after that you have your two or three days and the next thing is bang, straight back to training Thursday and no messing.

“It's straight back to business so it's the best way to be mentally wise.”

If Lehane does see action on Sunday, it will atone somewhat for not getting off the bench against Clare 12 months ago. But to even be in such a position after all the injuries is something he is grateful for.

“In a way, you've no choice if you want to try and make sure that you can be a part of some part of the year,” he says.

“You just suck it up. You’re allowed to whine and have a bit of a moment but you just talk to someone, get it out the way, don't dwell on it, and then have a realistic view of what the year might look like.

“Youaac just say, you just don't know what's going to happen and just apply the same approach as you would as if you were starting.

“You never regret giving it socks, giving it the effort, even if it doesn't go your way.”