Seán Óg Ó hAilpín says Cork have the ingredients, Ben O’Connor just needs to mix them

As Christmas creeps closer, so too does the return of the inter-county season, and with it, the start of a new chapter for Cork hurling under Ben O’Connor.

Prior to the commencement of the National Hurling league, we’ll see the Rebels in action against UCC for the annual Canon O’Brien Cup fixture, and of course the Munster Senior Hurling League after.

But for former Cork great Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, don’t expect any sweeping overhaul from the outset from his former teammate O’Connor.

“From a player point of view, and even his coaching CV today, impeccable,” Ó hAilpín begins. “I don't think Ben will change an awful lot.

“That's my personal view, I think he'll just tweak a few things, you'll probably see one or two new names featuring next year, but the nucleus of guys that we've had for the last couple of years will be the same guys that we will be relying on.

“And they are good enough, I mean you don't contest two All-Ireland finals – albeit we didn't win it – but you don't get there without having good calibre players,” Seán Óg says. “What I'm trying to say is Ben will just tweak a few things, but I don't see him doing wholesale changes, because I don't think there needs to be huge wholesale changes.” 

STANDARDS

Ten debutants won’t be on O’Connor’s agenda, but the standards will be unmistakably his.

“Ben has been a born winner all his life, and like his standards – from training with him closely over the years, that's our standard, Ben's standards are up there.” He stretches his hands apart to demonstrate the gap. It’s vast.

Himself and Jerry, his brother, freaks when it came to standards.

“And Ben will go about his business nice and quietly, like he did with his hurling career. He let his hurling do the talking over the years. He'll be man of few words, but behind closed doors it'll be all action, don't you worry about that.

“And it'll be just once [he says it], that's it.

“I think the ingredients and the substance are there. It's not like that you're having to go to the grocery store and buy ingredients, they’re there. They’re on the table, so it just needs probably another mix to make the cake,” Ó hAilpín remarks. “I'm sure Ben is trying to unlock what that missing ingredient is.

“The Munster Championship is going to tell a lot. I mean It's the lion’s den of the hurling championship really. Five doesn't go into three, two teams will lose out. Each of the five teams will feel like they can get that those three places, regardless of the order.” 

ANGUISH

If Cork are to be one of them, the battle will be as much psychological as physical, especially after the crushing defeat in the All-Ireland final against Tipperary.

“That's going be key. The game is nine tenths between the two ears.

“It's how they recover mentally, because physically, I think Cork have been one of the best conditioned teams the last couple of years,” he says. “But it's just how they can part the last two years, And I mean there're plenty of examples that they can leverage off.

“I get the feeling from talking to support on the ground like that, they see it as a new three-year cycle, so maybe expectations won't be as high next year.

“Then, you find sport is funny, like the times you think you deserve to win one you don't, and the times that you think that you're not going to, that you come up trumps,” he adds. “Who knows, we wait in anticipation, I just hope I live to see those players, that they can get retribution for the last two years.

Because, I've been there losing All-Ireland finals. 

"It's a tough place to be, so hopefully they get their chance at retribution, hopefully next year, but [at least] over the next few years.” 

And if Cork are to make that push, he knows where their focus must lie – home contests against Limerick and Clare.

“They'll be looking at the home games, they’re critical. If you get two wins out of those home games, like that puts you in a strong position.

“But look, plenty of work between now and the Munster Championship, we have the pre-season competitions after Christmas. I mean they played a challenge game recently against MTU, so it’s up and running now and it's alive, and the very best of luck to them.”