Aiming to mix traditional values with modern trends

ALL-IRELAND MFC FINAL:SHOULD CORK deny Tyrone a fourth All-Ireland minor title this century on Sunday it will provide a shot in the arm for those who advocate a reliance on more traditional methods.

However, if, as is largely expected, they are crushed by the Tyrone juggernaut, their blueprint of total football will grow stronger.

The Ulster football revolution, sparked by Armagh in 2002, carried on by Tyrone and possibly now Down has undoubtedly altered the way football is played.

Glancing down the minor All-Ireland roll of honour three things become apparent.

Since Benny Coulter’s Down stormed Croke Park in 1999, six more Ulster teams have followed – Tyrone in 2001, ’04 and ’08; Derry in ’02; Down again in ’05 and most recently Armagh.

We have also witnessed some excellent underage development in Laois and Mayo that has failed to transfer into sustained senior success, we assume, for a number of structural and social reasons.

Also, tellingly, the traditional superpowers of Kerry and Dublin have been unable to end their barren spells at under-18.

Cork have reaped enough success at under-21 to avoid major concern, but Sunday provides the litmus test of their development against the most vibrant and progressive football county of the past 10 years.

The Cork attitude according to their minor boss, Brian Cuthbert, is to simply “Go out and play.

“I think Tyrone and Armagh, to a certain extent, are leading the way in terms of schools of excellence. They are probably five or six or seven years ahead of the rest of us – certainly down in Munster – but I think Cork and Kerry have a belief that we can do it a certain way and eventually it comes right by the end.

“If you take Kerry, for example, the last minor All-Ireland they won was in ’94, yet they can produce five or six senior players off minor teams that aren’t successful and I think that is the template that Cork would follow as well.

“We try to groom players, not put pressure on them, and certainly not stick them to systems at 14, 15 years of age when I think the emphasis in Cork would be on skill development and it is starting to come on physical development as well. The tactical development is coming later.”

In the All-Ireland semi-finals, Tyrone, yet again, found a way past Mayo, but it was Cork’s bizarre 3-15 to 5-8 defeat of Galway, having trailed by nine points with time running out, that requires further examination.

“A lot of people have come up to me and said they thoroughly enjoyed watching it because it was almost a throwback to the ’70s,” says Cuthbert.

“Fellas weren’t even looking, they were just getting the ball and kicking it in. I think both teams saw weakness in defence and said let’s just get it in there.

“Obviously, we gave away five goals which, certainly against Tyrone, is not going to do as they would close up shop, but down the other end we scored 3-15.

“It was a game for the purists. A game for the old-fashioned guys because there was a lot of balls just flying into the square, breaks coming off them.”

Surely Tyrone were licking their lips at such loose play? Cuthbert conceded a significant change in tactics would be required.

“Yeah, you would have to, to be honest. I’m not blowing them up, but they have gone through a system through their schools of excellence where you can see them all trying to play the same system as their senior team and by the time they get to minor they know it inside out.

“I saw them playing against Kerry (a serious 2-12 to 0-9 victory), I saw them playing against Armagh up in Clones (who they destroyed 1-14 to 0-5 in the Ulster final) and positions don’t seem to matter . . . so you are going to have to get your mind around the fact if you go man on man you could end up anywhere.”

With that in mind, will the Cork players be told to follow their marker?

“We tend to play it as we see it. There are no set rules. We are almost a throwback in ourselves to traditional values. You are a corner forward, your job is to win the ball and score. If you are a corner back, your job is to defend your space and make sure your man doesn’t score.

“I think there is a lot of merit in that, but there is also a lot of merit in modern trends where everybody is comfortable on the ball and everybody can do damage.

“If you can get a mixture of both maybe that is where you want to go, but whether we are there or not that is another question.”

Weekend Fixtures

Saturday

All-Ireland Football Sevens– Kilmacud Crokes.

Women's Football– Aisling McGing Memorial Championship Final – Cork v Dublin, Cashel, 3.30pm, Y Duffy (Cavan).

Sunday

All-Ireland MFC Final– Cork v Tyrone, Croke Park, 1.15pm, M Duffy (Sligo).

All-Ireland SFC Final– Cork v Down, Croke Park, 3.30pm, D Coldrick (Meath).