Sports psychologists get too much credit when GAA teams win, Cork need to keep it in-house next season

The influence of performance coaches is regularly overblown.

When a team hold their nerve coming down the stretch, the sports psychologist involved gets huge credit. Limerick’s sustained excellence, along with previous stints with Tyrone, Tipp and Dublin, means Caroline Currid is rightly cited as the best in the business.

Currid was marked absent in 2019, ’24 and ’25, the only three seasons across the last eight when Limerick didn’t lift Liam MacCarthy. Her influence is undeniable but she’s embedded in a set-up with a brilliant manager, genius coach and generational hurlers. It’s all part of the bigger picture.

Last year, Cathal Sheridan was involved in the backroom teams of both All-Ireland champions, Tipperary and Kerry. Savage going to be fair.

The ex-rugby player is, coincidentally, a Sligo native like Currid.

He was heavily praised by Ronan Maher after the Premier’s sensational display to dismantle Cork in Croke Park. 

“Coming from a high-performance environment like Munster, you just have huge belief in him, and there's been times where he's challenged me, and I've challenged different things as well, but especially this year he's brought us on so much,” explained Maher.

Ups and downs

The former Munster scrum-half stayed on board with Tipp this year and they suffered a serious championship meltdown, losing to Cork, blowing a big lead in Waterford and then getting wiped out at home against Clare to exit the Munster series with a game to go.

None of the blame was put on Sheridan when he was with the Cork hurlers in 2021 and they flatlined in the All-Ireland final against Limerick. The point isn’t to question Sheridan’s ability, just to put his achievements in context.

Gary Keegan had two stints with the Cork hurlers but his absence in the build-up to the 2025 All-Ireland, when his commitment to the Lions rugby tour took precedence, was said to have contributed to the second-half horror show.

When Ben O’Connor succeeded Pat Ryan, he replaced Keegan with Gerry Hussey. Like Keegan, he’s highly regarded. He helped Tipp to glory in 2016, though he’s better known for his involvement with Ireland’s Olympic boxers. 

Hussey hasn’t been mentioned much this week, since his native Galway swept Cork aside in another Croke Park collapse. If Cork had ended the All-Ireland drought, he’d have garnered endless headlines. So how much of last weekend can be attributed to him?

Clearly, the Cork hurlers can implode when the opposition gets a run on them. Across the last decade, the majority of their defeats in Croker, apart from the 2024 All-Ireland final classic, have been heavy, going back to the 11-point loss to Waterford in '17.

By the same token, Cork have shown mental fortitude on plenty of occasions. How else did they beat Limerick twice two years ago, or on penalties in the Munster final last summer after being smashed by 16 points three weeks earlier? In 2021, they coughed up a late goal to Kilkenny but were by far the better team in extra time of that All-Ireland semi-final.

Defiant

Even in this season’s Munster campaign, they recovered from being seven points behind early on to beat Limerick and ground out a win at Walsh Park despite injuries to Ciarán Joyce and Rob Downey and a first-half penalty miss.

Given the current gloom on Leeside, it’s easy to forget that it takes a lot of talent and drive to repeatedly reach the business end of championship, particularly when five into three doesn’t go in the Munster round-robin.

Joe Canning’s comments on RTÉ about Cork arrogance and fans booking All-Ireland final trains in advance were very unfair.

Both Cyrill Farrell and John Mullane argued on podcasts this week that not having a homecoming after being battered by Tipp last July, a decision taken by the county board, not the management or players, was a factor. 

As if it’s that simple. Plus the Cork supporters were out in force at every step of the journey, backing their players to the hilt.

All these theories being spouted that the fanatical Rebel support is a negative are ridiculous but in 2027, the players and management simply have to insulate themselves from all the outside noise and strip it back to basics. 

One match at a time and no talk of silverware, the depth of the squad, the quality of A versus B games, or being able to beat anyone on their day. 

They can't do much about lads getting tattoos or soccer teams giving walkovers but they can certainly keep their heads down.

Clearly, a few changes are needed to the panel and the management must take a very honest look at how they picked the team and used their subs against Galway. They need a ball-winner to replace Seamus Harnedy, stop chasing goals when points are on and up their shot count from long range.

Cork could find themselves missing out on a top-three finish in Munster as quickly as being back in an All-Ireland semi.