West Cork giant has called time on his inter-county career
BY DENIS HURLEY
Retiring midfielder Alan O’Connor heads the list of players departing from the Cork senior football panel as new coach Ronan McCarthy plans his squad for 2018.
McCarthy met the media for the first time on Monday night and revealed that St Colum’s clubman O’Connor, who retired at the end of 2013 before 2015, had decided to leave the intercounty scene.
‘Alan has retired from inter county football,’ he said.
‘He has been a fantastic servant to Cork. There’s a natural timing to these things. It was Alan’s decision, in his case, and number one I respect that, and number two, I think it was the right thing.’
Others not returning are Tadhg Mac Cárthaighs player Colm O’Driscoll, Thomas Clancy of Clonakilty, O’Donovan Rossa’s Donal Óg Hodnett, Niall Coakley, who plays his football with St Jude’s in Dublin, and Douglas’s Kevin Conlon.
‘No decision was made lightly, there was an integrity behind all of the decisions, be they right or wrong,’ McCarthy told Cork’s RedFM.
‘Some we’d have felt would have been on the panel a long time without making the breakthrough, some had maybe given their all to Cork football, while others we felt might benefit from going back to the club, or maybe back to U20 level.
‘We’ll bring in other players when the county championships end.