Delanys Pat O'Connell has been a great servant to his club and Cork intermediate hurling teams

There are many GAA volunteers in this city and county that the modern supporters have more than likely never heard of and for the former Delanys coach Pat O’Connell his love and loyalty deserves recognition.

Pat (76) began playing with his beloved club at the age of 12 where he was given a rather unplanned debut.

“I went out to Douglas with my brother for a Junior football game and with numbers sparse they had to put me in corner forward to make up the 15,” said Pat.

Having a far bigger man marking him Pat had a tough day at the office.

“The crowd got a great laugh at me with a jersey almost down to my ankles and a man looking down at me but despite losing by six goals I was the only player to score a goal for Delany’s so you could say I left Douglas a very happy young boy,” added O’Connell.

Sadly, for Pat playing with Delany’s didn’t bring much success as numbers were always a problem.

“I suppose having the Glen as our neighbours didn’t help us and it took us until 1974 to win our first ever Junior championship but look we were always proud to wear the jersey.” 

The Dublin Hill outfit did produce a quality team in 2002 that culminated them winning the Intermediate hurling championship and promotion to the Senior ranks.

“I was the coach at that time but to be fair we had some wonderful hurlers in the Egan brothers, John O’Driscoll, Paul Finnegan and Mark McElhinney to name a few a few.” 

As the noughties matured numbers and success dwindled but O’Connell believes lack of commitment was a big problem.

“I could never put my finger on it but players not showing the required commitment even at Junior level was a problem for many years.” 

Over the last 15 years hurling has taken a backstep at Delany’s as football took and O’Connell believes they took their eye off the ball.

“I think when we were promoted to the Senior ranks we lost focus and when the conveyor belt stops bringing players through you end up in big trouble.

“The underage was totally neglected although the present committee are working hard to get back to where it should be.” 

There is little doubt Delany’s produced some quality football teams and O’Connell praised the hard work of Conor Quinlan.

“Conor did a magnificent job and for a few years they went close to winning a county but sadly just came up short in the latter stages.” 

The quality shown by Pat when working with various Delany’s teams was noticed at intercounty level and he was a selector of seven Cork intermediate teams that brought All Ireland success to Leeside.

“The first one was in 2001 when we beat Wexford and we followed up in 2003 and 2004 when defeating Kilkenny.

“In 2006 and 2009 we won our fifth titles by defeating Kilkenny again and we followed up with wins again in 2014 and 2018.” 

When O’Connell looks back on his coaching career the success that Cork achieved is something he is very proud of.

“We had great days and although winning seven we also managed to finish runner up in 2010, 2015 and 2017 so to to be involved in Croke Park on 10 occasions is something I can never forget.” 

The sport of hurling has changed big time in Pat’s illustrious career.

“In my time it was all about striking the ball with precision but in my book at Senior level they are overdoing it with the hand passing that is not a good watch.

“Hurling is now a possession game and I think the basketball strategy that came into football is now coming into hurling with the emphasis on possession and pressing.” 

The drought in Cork not winning an All-Ireland Senior title for over two decades is something that has him bewildered.

“I am shocked because we have the hurlers and each year I am convinced Cork are going to win an All-Ireland but for some reason they are hitting a brick wall.

“The one thing I spotted in Cork is players telling the media how much they love the coach and I always say did you ever hear Kilkenny or Kerry players doing likewise.” 

Can Cork pick it up and manage to see off Offaly before taking on Leinster champions Galway in the semi-final?

“I am confident we can but I would hope that our management are more ruthless in making the required changes when needed as you saw John Kiely had no qualms in replacing Aaron Gillane in the Munster final.”