Bill Cooper optimistic about Cork's upward trajectory
Tuesday 22 January 2019 22:25, UK
Cork hurler Bill Cooper feels the Munster side are moving in the right direction.
As the Rebels lick their wounds following a tough loss to Limerick in 2018, they look forward to the new year with a sense of optimism.
"The margins are very tight," said Cooper, when asked to reflect upon the semi-final defeat. "Any one of six to eight teams can beat each other on a given day. The results showed that last year. Every game there's a couple of points in it. That's the reason you can't get too far ahead of yourself. It's very much a game-by-game approach.
"It's the same for everybody, everybody is trying to find that small few per cents, yeah it's very competitive.
"It's very important when you are playing inter-county to have that motivation to try and win, ultimately an All-Ireland, but it's the same for everybody and I suppose that's what is probably driving the competition that so many counties are feeling like they could go all the way. It's brilliant for spectators I suppose going to more close games and high-quality games."
Cooper has been a member of the squad since 2011, and knows Cork are moving in the right direction.
"We'd a couple of disappointing years for different reasons: lads had a lack of form, and it's so tight as well you can lose a couple of games and it's very hard to turn things around," he said. "That's why the league is very important. You can gain a bit of form and maybe find a couple of players and bring it on to get that consistency, bring that into the championship.
"That's what happened to us in 2015, 2016. We came out on the wrong side of a few results early on in the year and then it's very hard to turn it around."
The Youghal club man is keen to push on with young talent continuing to stream through.
He added: "Darragh Fitzgibbon is ferociously talented, a great, great player and brilliant to play with. The likes of Mark Coleman, is the obvious one, and Shane Kingston; the likes of Robbie O'Flynn, Tim O'Mahoney; lads like that, They are really very good players as well, very unlucky last year they were beaten in the U21 final.
"They are all very good players and even this year over the winter there are lads from the U17 team a couple of years ago brought in. So there is more competition and that can only be good.
"Over the last few years there are good players coming through and hopefully it'll continue."
Cork open their Allianz League campaign away to Kilkenny and will be hoping to hit the ground running this springtime as they aim to win a third Munster title in a row before bidding to bring the Liam MacCarthy Cup back Lee-side for the first time since 2005.
