Keith Ricken looks back on his first season in charge of Cork minor footballers, keyboard warriors and the future

Cork minor football manager Keith Ricken feels his players couldn’t have done anymore this year as he reflects on the campaign.

The St Vincent’s clubman completed the first year of a two-year term this season as the Rebels lost the Munster final to Kerry before going down fighting in the All-Ireland quarter-final to the eventual winners Tyrone.

There was no doubt the Leesiders were more competitive this year than in recent years, but in spite of that, the gap in quality was still stark. Still, there are reasons to be positive about going forward.

“I look back now and I do kick myself with a few things, maybe we should have done better and done things differently from a management point of view,” the former Cork senior football boss says.

"But definitely in terms of the players, very happy with their input into it and their understanding of the game and what we were trying to teach them.

“They were competitive and they had a structure and they had a system and I was happy with that. And, you know, I felt that we were fair, we tried to blood in as many players as we possibly could. We weren't playing the same team over and over and over again.

“We were trying to do that and with a very limited preparation, you know what I mean, in terms of competitive matches compared to most other counties.

“We were trying to manage and try to expose as many young players to this type of football as possible, because the objective of minor is to give young lads a taste of it. That is the purpose of it and it's also to make them go back into their clubs better players and that is the case I feel, I stand over that.” 

The panel that was picked at the start of the year caused eyebrows for some people with the lack of city players very obvious.

“Whether you won something or you didn't win something, you won’t know if a minor team is successful for a few years down the line,” Ricken said.

“The only parameter that I have currently is how well these players have done from a performance and developmental point of view and how much they're now playing for their clubs in the minor championship at the moment.

“I've been to a number of minor championship games and a number of U16 championship games over the last number of weeks, thinking about next year's minors.

“The players that we picked for the Cork minor football panel for this year were standout players. So from that point of view you're kind of happy with the selection of players that you had, you're happy with the attitude that they had and you're happy that you picked the best players at that particular moment in time.

“We're not going to get everything right. There’s always going to be people who want to complain and give out about something. I would stand over, you know, the process was very transparent and I would stand over the amount of chances we gave players. And I'm not saying that these lads that didn't make it won't be great players. People develop at different ages.

"So that team that was minor this year, when they're at U20 level, that won't be the same team. It can't possibly be the same team. There has to be changes. There'll be young lads who we wouldn't have featured with us and they will come in.” 

While overall it was a season full of ups and downs with the highlight being Joe Miskella’s late goal in extra time to see off Tipperary in the Munster semi-final, Ricken feels though that social media is a concern going forward.

“One of the standout moments for me this year in a negative way was when we played Kerry in our first match,” he states.

“You had the keyboard warriors coming on, like men in their 40s and 50s criticising young boys who are 15 and 16 years of age. I worry about that and I worry about the players and how they deal with that. 

“I think it's a worry for me that people can put stuff up on social media and you can also see the comments. That's the world we're living in, but I don't settle for that. When it comes down to young lads, they are still children in the eyes of the law. 

"I think you have to refrain from your comments, you have to respect that these young lads are exactly what they are, young. They're not going to get everything right and they're going to develop.”