Shane Kingston: Nobody has an entitlement to a place in Cork squad

While much of the focus is on those looking to make a breakthrough on Ben O’Connor’s Cork hurling panel, none of the established names are taking anything for granted, either.

With Patrick Horgan and Conor Lehane no longer part of the set-up, Shane Kingston trails only Damien Cahalane and Séamus Harnedy in terms of longevity. The Douglas man was in action in Sunday’s Canon O’Brien Cup against UCC at the Mardyke, coming off the bench to score a late goal in a one-point defeat, and he is keen as anyone to ensure he remains in the mix.

“Nobody has a guaranteed place on any panel,” he said.

“As Ben was saying, people will be in different form, fellas getting injured, so it's up to every fella to be driving on as much as they can and staying injury-free.

“There's nobody guaranteed, no matter how long you're here, but it's a great environment to be in and everybody's champing at the bit every training session. We're getting the most out of every session and every time we're together, which is great. 

“Hoggie's obviously gone, but there's no guarantee anyone's going to start the coming year as well. We're looking forward to getting these games under our belt, the Munster league games, and then into the league. It all comes around fairly quick, then.”

At the moment, most of the training has been of the physical variety but the balance is set to change as the fixture-list becomes more plentiful, with upcoming Co-op SuperStores Munster Hurling League ties against Limerick and Clare.

Aside from Horgan’s departure leaving a vacancy in the full-forward line, the senior players must also compensate for his leadership.

“I'd say it happens naturally, anyway,” says Kingston (28).

“You get more comfortable amongst the group. When you come in and you're young, it's probably a bit intimidating and you don't want to speak too much. When you're there eight, nine, ten, nearly 11 years, you just get that bit more comfortable amongst fellas and you get to know them better and you feel comfortable speaking.

“And if something needs to be brought up, you can bring it up. There's plenty of fellas at that stage now in their career, which is good.”

And at the same time, there is always the potential to learn more, especially when the new boss was such a good forward in his own playing days.

“This time of the year, it's hard in the weather and things like that, but it's still good to get games in as well,” Kingston says.

“Like, a game is worth a couple of training sessions, so it's brilliant, and especially when there's such a big panel, it'll be good to give everyone a run-out as well.

“The last couple of weeks has been more conditioning, but we're all looking forward to seeing what the next couple of weeks and months bring in terms of new ideas, new skills and things like that coming from a new management, which is brilliant as well.”