Chaos in Cork

A short time ago in a galaxy far, far away…the complicated machine that is Cork hurling decided to go to war with itself. The repercussions of the saga will now echo through Cork hurling for a long time to come. So who won?

Nobody of course but there are a lot of losers:

1. Gerald McCarthy - Eventually succumbed to the tide and perhaps showed a lack of clear thought and judgement by taking it so far. Did he go because he thought his continuation was detrimental to the future of Cork hurling?

No, he went because he and his family received vile and cowardly death threats from what can only be described as constitutionally moronic scum.

What may have been an admirable stance at one stage was only going to end badly when he engaged in personal comments about members of the ‘08 squad.

2. The 2008 Squad - May see McCarthy’s resignation as justification for their actions but they have set a dangerous precedent. How will future Cork hurling managers guard against toys being thrown out of the pram?

Can they attract a strong-willed manager with the know-how and experience to win an All-Ireland or will such men be wary that if things start to go wrong then the squad will down their sticks instead of raising their game - would Brian Cody stand for it?

They reached a low point with a press conference supplemented with playground style anecdotes about McCarthy. For players who profess a love of Cork hurling it is worth remembering that when the ‘09 team were shipping 4-16 to Galway, the ‘08 boys were smiling.

Hopefully, rumours of a policy of non-attendance for a funeral will turn out to be just that.

3. Cork GAA - What the hell is going on down there? Advisors, accords, chairmen, conventions, clubs, delegates, facilitators, panels, representatives, secretaries, selectors and solicitors - the only thing they didn’t have was someone from the banking sector to tell them how to run their business properly.

4. The GAA - Croke Park tried to stay out of it for as long as they could but eventually had to try. They got down there but soon realised a break for the border was the best option. Note to self: don’t get involved in domestics.

Winners (by default) Newspaper readers - At least it kept Stephen Ireland and Roy Keane out of the papers. Maybe it wasn’t all that bad.