Eoin Downey can look back at All-Ireland rumours and laugh now

It was nothing funny at the time but, at a remove of six months, Eoin Downey can look back at the rumours that circulated after the All-Ireland final and laugh.

In the wake of Cork's heavy defeat to Tipperary, WhatsApp groups around the county and country buzzed with literally unbelievable tales about what was supposed to have happened at half-time in the Rebels' dressing room.

Perhaps because he incurred a red card in the second half, Downey's was a name mentioned in many of the communications.

“It's funny to look back at now because I'm so over the whole situation,” he says, “but it wasn't funny at the time.

“It was a bit strange, if anything, but looking back at it now, it is quite funny because I'm over the whole day and the whole occasion and looking back on that, I just think it just came out of nowhere and was complete nonsense, so I was kind of just laughing away at it now.

“I had other things in my head, being sent off in general and losing an All-Ireland final. I didn't really care too much about any rumours going around, because I knew in my own head they weren't true. 

What's the point in dwelling on something that was not true?

“That, to be honest, took absolutely nothing out of me. I didn't care because it wasn't true. It was other things on my mind that would have taken its toll on me, such as losing the All-Ireland final and being sent off.”

As to what actually happened under the Hogan Stand, it was more in keeping with what one would expect of a team leading by six points.

“I actually remember, I would think, clear enough," Downey says.

"I just remember it was Pat who spoke, just came in to gee us up. 

The players were just chatting amongst themselves, just kind of giving a bit of feedback – Tipp were playing a sweeper so we obviously just had to do something about that.

“Fellas were just chatting about certain things that were happening during the game in their certain positions. Other than that, I would say Pat, and maybe Donal O'Rourke, said a few words, but other than that, there wasn't much.”

BOUNCING BACK

Ultimately, 2025 is now gone and the focus is on bouncing back under Ben O'Connor - but Downey knows Cork are not far away.

“I’ve no doubt Ben has his own plans – we haven't talked too much about it, we're doing a lot of conditioning work at the moment, just trying to get our bodies prepared for what's coming.

“I think we'll go into more of the tactical stuff, maybe coming into the league or maybe in the next week or so.

“I don't think we'll rip up the script at all. I think that what happened happened – you must take those points and bring them forward with you.

“You can't just forget what happened; you have to use them as positives, use them as fuel to go forward.

“We got to the All-Ireland final, we won the Munster championship and the league, so we're obviously doing something right. You can't just completely scrap it all.

“We might have to make a few tweaks, but I don't think we need to scrap the whole thing.”