John Horgan on hurling: Cian O'Neill can cross the football and hurling divide

GAA coverage in the national media is sparse enough at the moment and that is understandable with the split season.

The season ends in July and it does not resume again until late January of the following year. Opinion is still divided on the rights and wrongs of that but it is the norm now and just has to be accepted.

Last week, the appointment of Cian O'Neill as the new Cork hurling coach took some people by surprise. His credentials were not being questioned but his familiarity and status with Gaelic football more than hurling was certainly a talking point.

His involvement with Newtownshandrum and their success story, landing a Munster title in 2009, was obviously a factor in Ben O'Connor's thinking.

It's very much a rarity for an intercounty manager or coach to cross over the divide between football and hurling but it has been done before, not too often, it must be said. And the new Cork coach has had involvement in both and the counties that he was involved with have had success.

He was alongside Liam Sheedy when Tipperary halted Kilkenny's drive for five in 2010 and more recently, he was Jack O'Connor's right-hand man in the Kerry football set-up in 2025 when Sam Maguire returned to the county.

He has been on the national stage for quite some time now, his time with the Mayo, Galway and Kildare footballers well documented and he is a vastly experienced operator.

At the highest level of both games, he is not the only person to switch codes, the most high-profile being Pat Gilroy in Dublin who managed both the hurling and football team, the latter to All-Ireland glory.

Anthony Cunningham was manager of the Galway hurling team after a successful playing career for a couple of years and he took charge of the Roscommon footballers subsequently.

It might not be that well known that one of the greatest football managers of all time, Meath's Sean Boylan took charge of the county's hurlers before that.

And that great Wexford man, Liam Griffin, had a spell in charge of the county's footballers before he led the Slaney men to the McCarthy Cup in 1996.

And another very high-profile figure, Kilkenny's Nicky Brennan served the county in both codes as a manager in both following a hugely successful playing career.

So, a precedent has been set to serve in both codes and Cian O'Neill is now continuing in that regard with the Cork hurlers as they seek to end an ever-lengthening famine without an All-Ireland title.

The Cork hurlers have filled a good number of column inches in the papers and on the airwaves since their staggering loss to Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final in July and whilst there has been no high-profile retirements on the playing front thus far, there has been movement in the backroom set-up.

Firstly, performance coach Gerry Hussey ended his tenure in that role and very recently Ronan Curran stepped down as a selector and Ben O'Connor's right-hand man.

Changes from one year to the next occur all the time for various reasons and during the glory years in Kilkenny, Brian Cody changed personnel.

Ben O'Connor's stint as Cork boss wasn't a wet week old when there was a change in the coaching set, the successful club coach Niall O'Halloran departing. O'Connor is only a year into the top job but clearly he has decided that there is a need to shake things up a bit now.

Meltdowns

Cork are not a million miles off regaining the big prize and will enter the new season in second or third place on the betting boards behind Limerick.

But crossing the threshold is not proving to be easy, two shocking losses in Croke Park in the past two seasons have supporters asking serious and obvious questions. Why is this happening, second-half meltdowns on the biggest of days?

There might be some acceptance of it happening once, just one very bad day at the office but to have had it happen twice raises great concern. It's all in the past now, of course, and should be consigned to that but addressing the wrongs will surely be a priority for Cian O'Neill.

Having had two runaway victories in the All-Ireland semi-final over Dublin in 2025 and Offaly in the quarter-final this year did the team little good and a much sterner examination in both might have steeled them more for the subsequent games.

One player does not make a team on his own but the loss of Ciarán Joyce was monumental and his return will be welcomed like the flowers in May.

He's the type of player that a defensive structure can be built around.

Cian O'Neill's reputation is built around his football prowess but it's obvious he is a student of the GAA in both football and hurling.

He's not coming into this Cork set-up just as another addition but as a personality who commands attention when he speaks.

Aside from Ben O'Connor, he is the only individual in the Cork camp who has been involved in an All-Ireland senior winning team, both in hurling and football. Surely there is some relevance in that.

We won't see him or a Cork team in action until next January but have no doubt, the planning for next season is already underway.

O'Connor and his selectors are already out and about, on the trail of players who might provide the squad with something extra that ultimately makes a difference. Easier said than done, of course.

Fresh

Cian O'Neill will be a new voice to have around the place and that can benefit everybody.

Having worked in camps that ultimately reached the promised land has to be an asset and whilst there might be some apprehension about his appointment because his background is more associated with the big ball, Cork hurling has recruited a man with winning credentials.

Ben O'Connor, as a huge contributor to Newtown's remarkable success story, will be fully aware what O'Neill has to offer during his stint in that great hurling home. That surely had to be a contributing factor in his appointment last week. Being domiciled on Leeside is a plus too.

O'Connor will have taken significant learnings from his first season in charge of a senior intercounty team and there have been quite a few who didn't impact in that first term but who subsequently turned things around.

The Cork squad of 2026 was perceived to be one of the best around but maybe it wasn't, not to the same extent that John Kiely has constructed in Limerick. And in the modern era, it's squad depth that proves to be the difference.

The younger Cork players that were involved in 2026 will be a year older and a year wiser next season, they'll have taken learnings too. One of them is the importance of physicality, playing on the edge that Kilkenny used to do and that Limerick have brought down to a fine art too.

Cian O'Neill should be a big asset in that. His appointment should be looked upon as a bold and positive step forward