Cork Footballers

[peopleluas]

We have 2 Clon men living and working in Dublin. Both are training with a club in Dublin and are travelling home to play with us every 2 weeks. I suppose football just means more to our guys.

I just find it strange that a guy won’t commit to travelling home even once a month to play with his club yet is happy enough to commit to a development squad, which won’t ever play a competitive game.

It's not strange at all:

• "his club" is in Dublin, and if I was a member of his former club in Cork I'd have been advising him to transfer to a Dublin club now that he is living there - because that's probably better for him from a number of perspectives, and because we in the GAA retain another player that we might otherwise risk losing.
• He clearly wants to play with Cork seniors, and he's willing to travel to do that.
• Most if not all players on senior intercounty panels (especially successful ones) prioritize intercounty far more than club - but many feel compelled to say otherwise to avoid the wrath of self-appointed GAA-morals policemen.

 

[BossHogg]

That's a very fair point. Jesus Fox....If you weren't such a class A wind up merchant, you'd make a fantastic contributor!!

There's always nuggets of gold in Fox's posts. You have to read between the lines and be neutral.

Couple of the big boys here who just dont like Clon, or have to play them, dont seem to be able to seperate the two.

 

[CORK1990]

tore his acl in that Sigerson game

thanks for that what stage of recovery is he at ?

 

[JimmyBarrySmurph]

We have 2 Clon men living and working in Dublin. Both are training with a club in Dublin and are travelling home to play with us every 2 weeks. I suppose football just means more to our guys.

I just find it strange that a guy won’t commit to travelling home even once a month to play with his club yet is happy enough to commit to a development squad, which won’t ever play a competitive game.

What’s Eoin O Mahony got to do with this?
He was working 35mins away in Cork & just couldn’t get home for the 1 or 2 championship games a year

 

[Fox Leary]

What’s Eoin O Mahony got to do with this?
He was working 35mins away in Cork & just couldn’t get home for the 1 or 2 championship games a year

There’s a lot of history behind that one, I’ll give you the brief synopsis: he was told that given the anti-Clon bias amongst the Cork senior selectors, that he would never be looked at as long as he wore green and red (plus ca change, plus la meme)

Safe to say it didn’t go down well in Clon, luckily for EOM he played a pivotal part in our famous 1996 county win and all was forgiven, if not forgotten.

Maybe if Hassett comes back and does likewise then it’ll be ok, otherwise the Ilen faithful will have to console themselves with the joy of watching him play friendlies for Corks 3rd team while they struggle to avoid relegation.

 

[Dday]

It's not strange at all:

• "his club" is in Dublin, and if I was a member of his former club in Cork I'd have been advising him to transfer to a Dublin club now that he is living there - because that's probably better for him from a number of perspectives, and because we in the GAA retain another player that we might otherwise risk losing.
• He clearly wants to play with Cork seniors, and he's willing to travel to do that.
• Most if not all players on senior intercounty panels (especially successful ones) prioritize intercounty far more than club - but many feel compelled to say otherwise to avoid the wrath of self-appointed GAA-morals policemen.

I don't get it.
You will travel home to play with county/development squad but not your club.

Similar to the Shane Walsh story, he got a lot of abuse for it, a lot of it over the top. But was it ever asked why he would commute to represent the county but not the club?

 

[Crankycorner]

I don't get it.
You will travel home to play with county/development squad but not your club.

Similar to the Shane Walsh story, he got a lot of abuse for it, a lot of it over the top. But was it ever asked why he would commute to represent the county but not the club?

Commuting for intercounty will be for approx 6 months of the year. If they were to do the same for their club they’d be doing it for another 2/3 months. I think what Shane Walsh did was completely understandable.

It’s the likes of Shane O Regan transferring from Watergrasshill to Sars that I’ve a problem with.

 

[Cork93]

Pity he wouldn’t do the same for his club.

I don't get it.
You will travel home to play with county/development squad but not your club.

Similar to the Shane Walsh story, he got a lot of abuse for it, a lot of it over the top. But was it ever asked why he would commute to represent the county but not the club?

Travel expenses are covered for the likes of Shane Walsh on a full inter county panel. He wouldn’t get anything for travelling home to play/train for the club, so I assume that’s a factor in his decision.

A lot of these lads who have been in inter county set ups since 17/18 years old, are probably a lot closer to their inter county teammates than their club ones. They train with county prob 80/90% of the time, play most of their matches with the county, and are doing this for 10/12 years by the time they are 30. You’ll always have lads in county teams who would die for their clubs, but there’s probably as many who wouldn’t, and would put county first.

 

[Fox Leary]

Walsh situation is completely different to the Ilen lad. Walsh is travelling home to be a the main man for an All-Ireland contender. Hassett is travelling home to play friendlies for Corks 3rd team in front of 3 men and a dog in the middle of the week.

He could easily continue to play for Ilen by training with a club in Dublin and travel home every 3/4 weeks. Clearly travelling home isn’t a problem, so is it just a case of he doesn’t fancy being part of a struggling Ilen team and playing senior football in Dublin is more appealing? If that’s the case, fair enough just don’t expect a pat on the back for showing “great commitment” for travelling home to play development squad friendlies.

 

[Minstrel]

Have the West Cork development team been training together or were they just thrown together?