CORK HURLING: SEAN MORANgets the views of the manager of the Cork minor hurling team, John Considine, on where the county goes now after Sunday's defeat to Kilkenny

FOR CORK it was touch and go on Sunday whether the thrashing by rivals Kilkenny was more dispiriting than the sinking feeling that it was likely to be a long time before the county would again compete at the very top of the game.

The county, which traded back-to-back All-Ireland sequences with Kilkenny a few years ago, hasn’t won a minor for nine years or an under-21 since 1998.

For John Considine, currently county minor manager and who also coached the 2001 team, the lessons to be learned from Kilkenny aren’t necessarily confined to the desirability of amassing silverware.

“Kilkenny’s minors have been in the All-Ireland semi-finals in 18 of the past 20 years. That’s a lot of experience. Winning isn’t an issue at under-age and I’ll tell you why. Look at Kilkenny on Sunday. How many All-Ireland minor medallists had they? Four or five. For most of the 1990s they didn’t win one. But they did play Croke Park regularly.

“When Cork won the minor All-Ireland in 2001, many of the same players had been in the final in 2000. It was their ninth championship match and their fourth in Croke Park. It showed the importance of getting to Croke Park and getting the occasional win there.

“But for Kilkenny players, when does most of the development take place? At minor, under-21 or senior? Sunday’s team won about twice as many All-Irelands at under-21 as they did at minor – and they’ve even more at senior.

“In Cork there’s no shortage of players at a certain level and we do very well at intermediate because of that depth.

“Our clubs are very successful in the junior and intermediate championships but struggle at senior. There are hardly any players on the county team from the recent senior champions.

“So we’re not getting a core of players from a top club, like Crossmaglen did in Armagh or Ballyhale in Kilkenny – and they’re pretty serious players like Henry Shefflin, TJ Reid, Cha Fitzpatrick and Michael Fennelly.

“In the 1970s we’d a good record at under-21 but we also had Blackrock, St Finbarr’s and Glen Rovers winning club All-Irelands. We’re missing that vitality at the moment.”

The debilitating disputes between players and the county board in recent years have added to the difficulties of the team’s ability to maximise its championship challenge but realistically the side that won All-Irelands couldn’t keep going indefinitely and the biggest problem has become the lack of new talent emerging, a deficiency that has been even more difficult to address in the fraught circumstances of the player strikes. Getting the best out of what’s there is a necessity.

“It may well take up to five years but there are so many hurlers in Cork capable of stepping up if the development systems are there,” according to Considine.

“I’m thinking of one guy on the minors, who definitely has the potential to make it although he has some flaws in his game. If he gets the right coaching and development he makes it but if not the flaws will kill his potential career.

“Look at Aisake. This is his first year. On Sunday he got no ball. What do you about that? Do you discontinue the project of trying to develop him? Look at Pa Cronin. Two years ago Cork pucked nearly every ball down on top of him. He got injured and lost his place but there’s no reason he can’t improve either.

“All of this needs time and stability. There was some of that when you had Donie O’Grady and John Allen there for four years.

“Alan Browne (former Cork captain) was saying the other day the stability Brian Cody offers allows Kilkenny to work on a player for three or four years at senior level so their development is not just down to under-age.

“How long was PJ Ryan on the panel before he became first choice? How many years did it take James Ryall? He got better and better until he made the team. Then he was dropped after his best season but he’s still on the panel, able to come on and make a big contribution on Sunday.

“You don’t stop learning just because you’re finished in minor or at under-21. Nearly every one of that Kilkenny team has improved as a senior player.”

Another difficulty that besets Cork is one that doesn’t concern Kilkenny. Dual players used not to be a major issue in the county in that those talented enough to play both would nearly always choose hurling when it came to a decision. That hasn’t recently been the case.

Forwards with potential such as Colm O’Neill and Ciarán Sheehan have opted to concentrate on football, as has Aidan Walsh, seen by Considine as a primary contender for a half-back place in the years ahead when the current line starts to retire.

“Part of the problem there is the dual season. The under-21 football managers have a free run at it, as the only problems are the senior panels in the national league of training.

“But the under-21 hurling is going on at the same time as the football and hurling championships so fellas aren’t allowed play.

“This year we’ve half a dozen or so guys who are on both the minor hurling and football panel. What choice do they make in the future?”