Cork hurlers learn valuable lessons from David Meyler
Wednesday 25 July 2018 10:27, UK
Cork manager John Meyler has revealed the Rebels have been learning from his son David, who plays for Reading and Republic of Ireland.
2017 saw Cork claim an unlikely Munster SHC title, as the Rebels came storming back from an underwhelming season the year before. Five weeks after the euphoria of a Munster final win over Clare, they fell to Waterford in the All-Ireland semi-final to end their summer interests.
Nonetheless, 2017 can be looked back upon as a year of progress for Cork hurling.
Twelve months on and Cork find themselves just two wins from the Liam MacCarthy Cup once again. However, such has been the developments over the last two years, 2018 would not be deemed a success should they lose to Limerick on Sunday.
Manager John Meyler is acutely aware of this, and is preparing his side for the meeting with the Treaty. Meyler's son, David has followed the Rebels every step of the way this summer. The Reading and Ireland midfielder has offered advice to the hurlers to avoid patting themselves on the back after a victory.
"[He said:] 'It's over, move on, that's all. What have you done?'" explained John Meyler.
"Sometimes he can be cruel in a sense but he's cruel from the point of view of support as distinct from being critical. It's constructive. The Munster final is over, it's an All-Ireland semi-final, it's going to be extremely challenging, competitive. You know that. You're going to have to forget about last Sunday against Clare.
"It's now Limerick and you know what Limerick are going to bring to the table. So from that point of view, he's been really supportive."
The Rebels are keen to implement this advice, and the mindset is ingrained throughout the playing squad and indeed the management. Selector Donal O'Mahony echoed the message.
"John bounces an awful lot of ideas off his son," explained O'Mahony. "He's brought that wealth of experience with him as well. The idea of Premiership soccer, the Championship soccer that David is playing now, he brought that to us this year.
"He came into the dressing room after the Munster Final and said, 'That game is over now lads. It's done, forget about it, we move on to the next game.'
"He was really rigid in that and I think it worked really, really well."
O'Mahony has clearly bought into the manager's methods, and sung Meyler's praises.
"John had a massive challenge this year. He's been fantastic. He's very, very passionate about hurling. He's very passionate about Cork hurling.
"He's a winner. That's just all he wants to do. He wants to keep it as simple as he can, he wants to win games.
"There isn't a minute that passes in the day where he isn't thinking of how we get one per cent better. He'd be ringing and texting you and my wife would be laughing because the phone would be going at two in the morning and it would be John with some idea about corner-back or a training facility or something like that. "
"The amount of time and effort the man has put into it at training and between training sessions is just phenomenal. But he loves it, he loves it.
"I haven't seen a fella as passionate about it as John."
Meyler, O'Mahony and indeed the whole of the county will be hoping that all the work will ultimately pay off, and the Rebels can claim their first All-Ireland final since 2005. Next up is a meeting with Limerick on Sunday, and Cork certainly will not be sitting back and admiring their achievements up to this point in the summer.
Make sure to tune into Sky Sports Arena on Sunday for live coverage of Cork vs Limerick in the All-Ireland SHC semi-final, with coverage getting underway at 14:30.
