Cork manager Ronan McCarthy says the Kerry tie is the 'only show in town' for his side
Tuesday 13 October 2020 16:12, UK
When the National League resumes this weekend, the Cork footballers will be looking to finish the job and seal promotion back to Division 2.
But lurking on the horizon, beyond their meetings with Louth and Longford, is the mammoth Munster Championship semi-final against old rivals Kerry next month.
The match-up was an intriguing one when the draw was initially made, given how the resurgent Rebels asked serious questions of the Kingdom in last year's provincial decider. But it was made all the more mouth-watering a prospect when it was announced that there would be no safety net for the loser.
Although the Lee-siders have a job to do against Louth this weekend, focus is firmly on Kerry.
"Normally you would say to players to focus on your next game, and that should be your only focus," said Cork manager Ronan McCarthy.
"But there's no question here that we also have to have an eye on the match further down the road, on the 8th of November.
"Our priority is that match in four weeks, and that is our number one focus. What we have to try and do is while focusing on that, not take our eye off the ball for the other game, particularly the Louth match which guarantees us promotion if we get a point from it.
"It is a difficult one for a management team, because there is only one show in town here, and that is the Kerry match on the 8th of November. But we still have a job to do. What you want is the benefit of the two games, you want your players getting minutes into their legs in competitive games, but with a view that you're building constantly towards the Kerry match.
"To me, the next two weeks is about getting the job done, and we'll look for the big performance in the big match on the 8th of November."
Logistical hurdles
Of course, preparations have been severely impacted by coronavirus restrictions. The Cork club championships were delayed due to positive cases, meaning McCarthy has only recently re-assembled his full squad.
"It's been difficult in that initially for the first couple of weeks, we had very small numbers," he said.
"Last week it was a great to be honest with you...To be fair to all the players that came back in, the attitude was good and the mindset was right, and we had a very healthy, productive week of training to be fair to the players.
"We are seeing Cian [O'Neill] coming into his own in particular, and Kevin Smith in that we had to be very careful with the load we put on the players, but still tried to get the max out of the sessions. I think the combination of Cian there and Kevin has been outstanding from that point of view."
And the squad are taking every necessary precaution to ensure the virus does not spread around the camp.
"Every decision and aspect of your preparation you took for granted as normal, you're stopping now and saying 'what is the best way to work this?' That's right down to training sessions, the number of dressing rooms available," said McCarthy.
"We had a meeting at the end of training on Saturday outdoors, standing on a pitch in CIT, which obviously isn't that conducive to having a fruitful meeting. We've done video analysis online through Zoom.
"Obviously it's better than nothing, but it's not as good as having everybody inside in the room."
Nonetheless, nothing can be taken for granted and the Rebels boss is unsure about the prospect of the season taking place without any hiccups:
"I wouldn't say I'm confident at all. A lot of it is luck. You see the Irish soccer team even at the weekend, how one positive case... And it's the close contacts are your big issue really. To be fair to our guys from the point of view of training, and our procedures in training, they have stuck to it regimentally, wearing a mask in dressing rooms, all that kind of stuff. So what you hope that where there is a positive case, your number of close contacts is at a minimum.
"That's all we can do from our end. That's only one aspect of where players are congregating. Obviously people have to go to work, and go to college and everything else. You're in the lap of the Gods there a small bit, in relation to the exposure that players might have, but we hope that by following the procedures that are there, and all the different protocols in relation to the prevention of Covid that it gives us the best chance of not running into that kind of difficulty."
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