If Cork are to win an All-Ireland, they will need to trust their bench more in the biggest games

In the aftermath of the recent Munster final, John Kiely was asked about the decision to take off Aaron Gillane in the 49th minute, replacing him with a midfielder Adam English.

Gillane has been one of the greatest players of the modern era, possibly Limerick’s most important player under Kiely. 

But he’d been held scoreless, having failed to convert any of this three shots before management decided to whip him off.

Similar to Limerick’s game against Waterford, Shane O’Brien was also taken off with Gillane. 

O’Brien scored 0-1, set up another chance, almost had a goal, while he was fouled for two frees. 

But Kiely wasn’t prepared to wait any longer to make that change either.

As soon as David Reidy entered the action, Gearóid Hegarty initially assumed he was going off. 

Except he wasn’t. Similar to the Waterford game, Hegarty was pushed into the full-forward line. 

And again, just as he had done in the Gaelic Grounds three weeks earlier, Hegarty was the spark that ignited Limerick.

Immediately, he had a goal chance saved by Patrick Collins, which Diarmaid Byrnes converted. 

Hegarty scored the equalising point from the resultant Cork puckout. Moments later, Hegarty secured possession again and set up Peter Casey for the lead score.

After Cork levelled through an Alan Conolly free, another long ball broke off Hegarty and Casey again brilliantly improvised to fire Limerick into the lead again. 

Hegarty also saw another late shot in the dying seconds hit the post.

Kiely and his management trusted that the switch they’d made against Waterford would work again. 

It did. But Kiely wasn’t waiting around to see if what wasn’t working, may work, just because Gillane had done it so often before.

“Do I back off it?” Kiely said to the media afterwards about taking off Gillane. 

“Do I back off it and have the regret later on? The group is the group. The team is the team. It’s not about individuals.

“He (Gillane) had his opportunity. I don’t want to go home regretting that I didn’t use more of the lads that are behind me that are playing well in training. 

"Of course he is deep down disappointed that he was taken off. But he understands that the fellas in the room with him are also there. 

"They have to get their opportunity to contribute as well. It’s a shared load.” 

Kiely’s approach was in direct contrast to Ben O’Connor and the Cork management on the day. 

Despite the attack under-firing and underperforming, Cork didn’t make a switch up front until the 66th minute, with Seamus Harney introduced for Barry Walsh. 

The only other change Cork made in their front eight was bringing in Hugh O’Connor for Tommy O’Connell in the 72nd minute.

The greasy conditions were a factor but Cork’s forwards found it extremely hard to get their hands on the ball. 

In total, Alan Connolly, William Buckley and Barry Walsh had just eight combined possessions.

Walsh and Buckley are superb young players playing in their first Munster final. Management wanted to show their faith and trust in them, while Connolly is the freetaker. Buckley did score 0-2. 

He was always going to be a threat when in possession. Connolly and Walsh are also capable of explosive moments. But when the Cork attack was struggling, changes needed to be made.

It has to be, as Kiely said, a shared load. “You make the minutes on the field count,” Kiely said of the players who are given the opportunity to play. 

“If you’re given five, you make the five count. If you’re given 55, you make the 55 count.” 

When the load wasn’t shared, as it needed to be by the Cork management, the risk with persisting with that approach is the message it sends out to the rest of the panel.

O’Connor and his backroom team did run their bench in the round robin, making five changes against Clare and Tipperary, and four against Waterford. 

In the round robin against Limerick though, Cork made just one change that wasn’t forced through injury or a blood sub in normal time. So do they only trust certain players against Limerick?

Management have to be faithful to the panel, especially when they are expressing that faith in the group to the players in training. Otherwise, it risks eating into squad morale, especially amongst the peripheral players.

“The fellas on the bench have to push the fellas on the pitch,” said Kiely two weeks ago. 

“The power has to come from behind the group, through the group. Our 37 players are working incredibly hard to be that energy, to be that oxygen for the group to drive it forward.” 

It has to be that way, for every serious team. Any questions, queries or doubts about management’s faith in the Cork panel will surely have been addressed in their sessions with performance coach Gerry Hussey in the last two weeks.

Cork will have gone after other areas too. Even against the breeze, Cork only got off nine shots in the second half. Of their 16 turnovers in that period, ten were in Cork’s attacking third.

It was no wonder that outside of Diarmuid Healy and Brian Hayes (who had a combined 20 possessions and five shots) that the rest of the Cork starting forwards had just a combined 17 possessions, and four shots from play which amounted to just 0-2, across the 70 plus minutes.

Those numbers were screaming out for changes to be made up front. 

That’s why the last two weeks will have been extremely important for the players on the panel to feel that they have a chance, and will be given a chance to make a difference, when it really matters.

Because if Cork are to win an All-Ireland, they will need to trust their bench more in the biggest games.