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Former Kerry and Kildare football coach Cian O'Neill joins the Cork hurling backroom team, bringing extensive experience from his time with Newtownshandrum and other elite teams.
AT THE LIMERICK media event before the All-Ireland hurling final, John Kiely spoke about how, back in 2017, he went about recruiting his backroom team.
In approaching Paul Kinnerk, Joe O’Connor, and Caroline Currid, he was drafting in people who had contributed to winning All-Irelands for Clare and Tipperary.
“I hadn’t been there, so I needed people around me that had and knew what the standards looked like,” said Kiely. Ben O’Connor has been there, three times as a player, but in the aftermath of Cork’s All-Ireland semi-final disappointment, the managerial make-up and experience came under some scrutiny. O’Connor himself spoke during the year about his eyes being opened to the workload involved in senior inter-county hurling.
His predecessor, Pat Ryan, reflected on making “an awful lot of mistakes” in his first year as they were “learning on the go”. O’Connor has taken steps to add that external know-how by enlisting Cian O’Neill as the Rebels’ new coach, in news reported by the Echo and Irish Times this morning.
The Kildare native has been there and done that as strength and conditioning coach for the Tipp hurlers in 2010 and has added two football All-Irelands to his CV since then as Kerry coach in 2014 and again in 2025. It helps that O’Neill lives and works on Leeside, operating as head of the Department of Sport, Leisure and Childhood Studies at Munster Technological University Cork. Advertisement Another key factor is that O’Connor has prior experience of O’Neill’s methods.
They worked together in his playing days with Newtownshandrum, with O’Neill training them to Cork and Munster titles. Cian O'Neill addressing the Newtownshandrum team before the All-Ireland Club semi-final in February 2010. Cathal Noonan / INPHO Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO Initial comments online may focus on O’Neill’s primarily football background. That Tipp gig, which concluded in 2011, was his latest top-level hurling role, although he has never been away from the inter-county scene.
Since then, he has managed Kildare and spent time with Mayo, Galway and the Cork footballers, between his two Kingdom stints. Of his 21 consecutive seasons with county teams, 18 have been spent on football. That isn’t the red flag some might think. Many top hurling teams have drawn on significant big-ball expertise.
Think Mick Dempsey, a former Laois footballer and manager, with Kilkenny, and Kinnerk, another inter-county footballer, with Limerick. In recent weeks, O’Connor has been busy retooling his backroom team. It was first reported that Gerry Hussey was departing as performance coach. Selector Ronan Curran revealed his decision to step away over the weekend.
“The hardest part for me was the alignment of thoughts to overcome these challenges,” Curran told the Echo. “Everyone on the management team wants the same thing, but there are so many different ways of getting there. I want the best for Cork, so I thought it was in the best interest of Cork if I stepped away from the setup.
” O’Connor has previously gone through a misalignment of views with his initial coach, Niall O’Halloran, whose December departure came within months of his appointment.
“Two different ways of operating,” said O’Connor in summing up the issue. “I said to Niall one day, ‘We’re not going to work together,’ and he said, ‘Probably not. ’ He said, ‘You won’t be happy and I won’t be happy and that isn’t right. ’ “We parted there.
He wished us the best of luck and, as far as I’m concerned, myself and Niall, there’s no issues between us, but it was what was the point prolonging it when it wasn’t going to work long-term? ” Ben O'Connor and Ronan Curran during the Munster final against Limerick. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO They may all have been amicable splits, but it shows the importance of O’Connor and O’Neill gelling in their approaches.
Creative tensions are all well and good behind closed doors, but players will sniff out any divergence in the dressing room message. Up in Tipp, O’Neill used to get some light-hearted slagging from players for his coaching lexicon. O’Connor is a straight-shooter, in the dressing room, on the sideline, and in media interviews. Back with Newtown in 2009, he would have appreciated O’Neill’s habit of making sure hurleys were included even in strength and conditioning drills.
His twin brother, Jerry, said at the time: “There’s a bit of bluffing going on around the place in clubs over teams who mightn’t have a great idea of what they’re doing, but with these lads , everything is done for a reason. ” Cian O'Neill going through a warm down with Tipperary in 2010. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO The Tipp hurlers never forget O’Neill’s impact either.
After Mayo defeated Dublin to reach the 2012 All-Ireland final, Lar Corbett tweeted: “Everywhere Cian O’Neill seems to go they become winners #respect. ” Certainly, it’s the type of appointment Cork needed. If it works, it will be hailed as a defining move.
Cian O'neill Cork Hurling Ben O'connor All-Ireland Newtownshandrum
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