Ben O'Connor: Pundits' remarks not for Cork camp to worry about

Ben O’Connor didn’t need to be told the extent to which Cork hurling attracts external chatter and there are certainly no fears of him being caught in it.

There is a sense that All-Ireland champions Tipperary are miffed by comments about them from Dónal Óg Cusack and/or Patrick Horgan - that they rise and fall faster than most and they 'caught' Cork last year, respectively. Whether that feeling of injustice is real or imagined, O’Connor doesn’t feel it makes his own job any harder going to Thurles for the championship opener.

“It doesn't,” he says.

“People will say, 'You're only saying that,’ but we're just going with the boys. We're the group and when we get in training, all the outside noise is put out.

“Obviously it's not ideal, but that's nothing to do with our boys. A couple of weeks ago Alan Connolly was castigated for saying that he wanted to win the league, the Munster championship and the All-Ireland. What is every other player in the country looking to do?

“We want to win every time, but we're not putting ourselves under that kind of pressure. Tipperary is our first championship match and that's what we're going after. If we win that, we'll look at Limerick the week after. We're going at it game by game. I just think the media are trying to make more out of it maybe than what it is.

“They're looking for a story, they're looking for something that will grab the person's eye. It's maybe unfortunate that those comments were passed. And then we have fellas outside the county that are trying to rile it up as well, to get at it as well.

“If you were to be getting worried or bothered about all that, there wouldn't be much time for thinking about hurling or anything. It's outside noise and we're not taking any notice.”

Equally, he doesn’t think that Tipp’s players and management need fuel for their own motivations.

“I don't think they're listening to that, either,” he says.

“That's all a game, I think; it's just stuff that's put out. Do you think they're up there worrying about what's after being said about them? They're not. And we're not worried about what's being said about us here. It's working both ways.

“If they get a bit of motivation out of it, well and good. But if you need something like that to get a bit of motivation going into a Munster championship match, you're in a small bit of bother.”

And yet, when Alan Connolly mentioned the inner motivations of the Cork group, there was blowback, too.

“He was being cocky, that's what people said,” O’Connor says.

“If you ask any player in the country or walk into any dressing room, what are they going to say? That they're only training for the fun of it? If you're only training for the fun of it, you shouldn't be in the dressing room.

“I'm delighted Alan said that. I'm delighted he said what he thought. I like that in fellas. I don't like fellas just going along with the company line, saying 'We'll see how we get on'.

“We're going up to Thurles to win. We're not going up just to play in a game, we're going up to win. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Why not say it out straight that we're going up to win? That's what we're playing the game for.

“We're not telling any lies to anyone. That's what we want to do. If the plan goes properly for us, that's what we are going to do. And that's not putting any pressure on my lads.

“If we play better than them, we'll win. If they play better than us, they'll win. It's as black and white as that.”