CAST your minds back to two weeks ago when the Cork minors were beaten 2-18 to 2-8 by Kerry in Páirc Uí Rinn. It was a tough evening at the office for the young Rebels. This Friday evening, Keith Ricken’s side face Kerry again, this time in the Munster MFC final in Austin Stack Park, Tralee (7.35pm) .
In the previous encounter, Cork were level, 1-6 to 0-9, at half-time but the second half unravelled for them as Kerry showed their title credentials. The young Rebels then showed fight to overcome Tipperary after extra time in the Munster semi-final, 2-17 to 0-20, and now will have another chance against the arch enemy.
‘Every match brings its own new thing. You would have learned stuff in the last match but it’s going to be different. The set-up is going to be different. The style might be a bit different. Pace might be different. The circumstances, conditions, all are going to be different,’ Cork minor boss Keith Ricken told The Southern Star.
‘While we learned from the game the last time, you still don’t know how the game will unfold. The interesting part from me involved in sport, I love seeing players try to adapt out on the pitch to what’s unfolding. It shouldn’t be too scripted. I think it’s great that they can adapt and make their own decisions. We have tried to encourage that with them all of the time and that they would play the game as it is presented in front of them.’
Ricken takes positives too from surviving the semi-final battle in Thurles.
‘It was a tough game but we knew it was going to be tough. The Tipp development squad has been good in the last few years so we knew they were going to be good with their hurlers back. They were quite strong so we were delighted to get that game and get it under our belt,’ Ricken added.
There has been a nice spread of scorers in the Rebels’ last two games with West Cork players Donagh Flynn (2-0, Argideen Rangers), Tom Whooley (1-2, Clonakilty), Daniel McCarthy (0-4, Castlehaven), Cathal McCarthy (0-3, St Colum’s) and Eoin Maguire (0-3, Castlehaven) all showing well.
Kerry have some threats themselves though with their captain Gearóid White being the pick of the bunch from centre-forward. Key match-ups and performance levels is what most senior teams are judged on, but for these U17s, that isn’t the name of the game.
‘Everything we do is in the context of knowing they are adolescents. It’s not an U20 team. It’s not a senior team so I don’t make those comparisons. They’re still young, they’re still part of the development so a big part of that has to be enjoyment,’ Ricken insisted.
‘It’s part of what we are about. No matter what happens, you have to be enjoying your football. Otherwise you are wasting your time. That emphasis is always there.’
Whatever happens on Friday, Cork will still be in an All-Ireland quarter-final where they face either Tyrone or Cavan.
Beating Kerry would be a boost but even more imperative is improvement.
‘The business of this championship is that your most important win of the year was your second game. It’s the same for Kerry, no matter if you win your first game or not, we are both in the same spot after winning our second game,’ the Cork boss said.
‘If you can progress, that’s where you want to be. That is the aim of this development programme. Getting a plan and playing other teams from other provinces in competitive games. We’ve played the Offalys, the Tyrones, the Roscommons, all teams that are left in the competition. We’ve played a lot of them in practice matches. It would be nice now to play them in championship matches to see where we’re at,’ Ricken said.
