Cork boss John Cleary on new additions to his backroom team: 'Freshness needs to come on board every so often'

John Cleary made it pretty clear when he sat down with the media at the end of last year that the McGrath Cup isn’t on his priority list for the new campaign.

The Cork senior football boss has guided the Rebels to McGrath Cup success on the last two occasions. It didn't run last year. 

The Leesiders make the journey to Tipperary tonight when they face the Premier County in their opening round of the McGrath Cup in Cappawhite with throw-in at 7pm.

The Rebels have nearly 50 players on the training panel, but there will be a certain number who won’t have the chance of impressing the management in the McGrath Cup tonight.

Gabriel Rangers’ Paddy O’Driscoll is one who has done well on the training ground, but he will be playing for UL tomorrow against MTU Cork for whom the latter should have Dara Sheedy. He has caught the eye in training in recent weeks for Cork.

The most intriguing one this year will be Steven Sherlock wearing a Cork jersey again. His return to the Cork fold after a 12-month hiatus has certainly got fans excited especially with how well he did with St Finbarr’s in 2025.

He was the best player in the Cork club football championship.

As well as the playing squad having a number of new faces, there's also a freshness on the sideline with two additions to the backroom team in the shape of Kevin Murray and Shayne Murphy. The latter will be performance director. 

Both figures bring a strong coaching science background, with Murray having completed a master’s degree in recent years.

Murphy arrives with an impressive international CV, having served as lead sports scientist with the Scottish men’s national soccer team. His tenure included the Euro 2020 and Euro 2024 campaigns, along with Scotland’s recent World Cup qualification.

Cleary did feel when speaking to the media last month that freshness to his backroom team is important at this stage of his tenure. He has been in charge since the summer of 2022 and agreed to a fresh two-year term last August.

“I would think it has to evolve. Every season there are probably new players and also in the backroom. Last year, Jim O'Donoghue came in. Having said that, it's not a case that you throw out everything that's good because you work for a couple of years to get things in place so you can't throw that experience away. 

"Even the guys that come in, like Jim last year, it took them three or four months to get up to speed.

“I'm sure Kevin will be the same now until he gets to know the players, gets to know the environment, gets to know how the whole thing works and the logistics of it really. Having said that, freshness needs to come on board every so often and that was part of that.

"Obviously with Shayne, he won't be there every night and that's not what we wanted with him. Basically his name came up and he's a Cork man. He's been involved with Manchester City and with the Scottish national soccer team. We had seen his profile and through a contact, we just contacted him to see if he would come and talk to us.

“I suppose his job really is to give us advice on best practice, how professional teams deal with players, deal with the backroom, deal with setting up various things like video analysis, how they work and what we can take out of it.

“Basically we'll be tapping into his experience and his know-how and his expertise. Hopefully we'll get a lot from him. He'll also have a look at our overall situation and advise us on what he thinks is right. Hopefully we'll get a few nuggets from him that will help us throughout the season."