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Near misses and gut-wrenching losses have pockmarked the core of this group of performers’ fledging inter-county careers at adult level.

An All-Ireland MFC final defeat to Tyrone in 2010 and All-Ireland U21 semi-final reverses to eventual champions Galway (2011) and Dublin (2012) could have blotted the psychological copybook of many involved with the current U21 panel.

However, these harrowing occasions have not acted as a deterrent whatsoever rather as a catalyst to achieve a milestone moment in their sporting lives – win an All-Ireland U21 title.

Cork have a wonderful opportunity to do so this weekend.

Cahalane is thrilled to have the chance at a crowning glory and hopes the ‘special bond’ in the group will be a telling facet of what the Leesiders will bring to the Gaelic Grounds showdown.

“Yeah, definitely, especially after being beaten at the semi-final stage two years in-a-row,” Cahalane said. “It’s great that we have got our noses into an All-Ireland final after the last two attempts.

“It is a trait of this team that when things seem dead and buried a lot of the time we are willing to stick it out and see it out until the end.

“And even as a minor team we found ourselves in a lot of tricky situations, heavy deficits, came back and won games, so it is definitely a trait of this team; that we love a challenge.

“A lot of this group are on the go for four or five years in search of an All-Ireland medal.

“We have been knocked so many times and suffered crushing defeats in finals and semi-finals that it would mean everything to the team to win this game.

“As a team, we are very, very close. Even in comparison to other U21 teams I have been involved with there is a bond in this group that is something special which we hope will stand to us again against Galway.”

Behind every progressive team, of course, lies a shrewd backroom unit.

As well as Cleary and Herlihy, Michael O’Loughlin, Michael Linehan and Donal McCarthy have contributed hugely to the educated guidance the players receive week to week.

Cahalane suggested the forensic approach the quintet take and the other support members of the backroom team has had a positive influence on the players’ attitudes towards the journey to potential national success.

“They leave no stone unturned in their preparation and their influence on the group is huge.

“And Niall Twomey joined the selection committee last year and he has added another dimension as well.

“Every person on the selection committee pulls their weight and even Ger Kiely with the goalkeeping coaching and Bill O’Connell doing the rubs and that, everybody puts their shoulders to the wheel and drives on together.

“There are absolutely no passengers in the set-up, be it in terms of players or management,” he said.

Cork’s route to the All-Ireland decider has been eventful to the say the least.

Seán Kiely’s injury-time point defined their provincial quarter-final tussle with Kerry, a sterling second-half performance in the Munster final against Tipp in Semple Stadium illustrated the determination of the players to set a campaign tone while Enda Reilly’s missed free in additional time for Cavan only served to heighten the drama of the journey.

Arguably, though, the one-point triumphs against both Kerry and Cavan were the most indicative examples of the character that glues the set-up together.

Limerick and Tipp were also vanquished along the way however, Cahalane, despite the latter outfit chasing another underage trophy in the provincial final, explained the Kingdom are the benchmark every year irrespective of the progress Tipperary football has made.

“We knew straight away that we had a very tough game in our opening match against Kerry.

“They are the benchmark every year because you set yourself up for the Munster championship with the attitude Kerry are the team to beat.

“Tipp obviously had a very strong team this year, but every single year you go out it’s Kerry you want to beat and we just about got there in the end at Páirc Uí Rinn on the night.

“We probably didn’t play as well as we could have done against Limerick, but we got the result.

“The second-half performance in Thurles was the performance we were really looking for which nicely wrapped up the Munster side of things,” he explained.

Dissimilar to the way Cork relentlessly exposed Tipp in the second half the Rebels allowed Cavan back into the All-Ireland semi-final instead of burying them and Cahalane admitted there may have been an element of complacency in their display throughout the second period at O’Connor Park, Tullamore.

Even after Dan Mac Eoin edged Cork into a 0-15 to 1-11 advantage in the dying moments the northerners were given the opportunity to force extra-time seconds later after Cahalane himself was penalised.

Yet, the aforementioned Reilly, reintroduced to specifically kick the free from an acute angle, drew his attempt wide of the near post and so Cork advanced.

Cahalane revealed he was no more than hopeful of Reilly missing rather than confident despite the angle and elements the kicker had to overcome.

“We felt, against Cavan, that we had done well enough in the first-half going in to lead by two points.

“Maybe a bit of complacency set in then though after we went five or six points up in the second half.

“Concentration faded and we left them in for a goal we should have never conceded. Cavan should really have been stopped further out the field I suppose, but they got on a bit of a roll after it and their huge support got behind them, too.

“We stuck it out though and were fortunate that they missed the free at the end.

“Enda (Reilly) was coming off the bench after sitting out the last 10 minutes so it was always going to be a tough free, especially with the way the wind was blowing out the field against him.

“I was kind of getting a feeling of hope rather than anticipation that he wasn’t going to score it but thankfully he missed it,” the Castlehaven star said.

Cahalane is loath, naturally, to say with any degree of certainty Cork will clear their final hurdle, however.

He appreciates Galway have been producing winning teams at this level in recent years – the Tribesmen have won three of their four All-Ireland U21 Football titles in 2002, ’05 and 2011 – and understands how ridiculous it would be to underestimate them in any way.

“Two years ago we were red hot favourites to beat Galway in the semi-final the same way Kildare were this year but Galway beat us.

“When we played them at minor level they got a big lead, went eight points up but we came back to win by one.

“We know though that if we give them a big lead again this time it won’t be as easy to come back,” he added.

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BACK in 2005, it appeared almost ironic when two Limerick colleges — UL and LIT — met in the Fitzgibbon Cup final on the same week that Pad Joe Whelehan resigned as Limerick senior manager and Limerick hurling spun into another crisis.
In any case, the Fitzgibbon final didn’t provide any real solace because only two Limerick players featured amongst the 34 hurlers which lined out in the Gaelic Grounds.
That was the first time that two colleges from the same city met in a Fitzgibbon Cup final.
Yet when it happened for just the second time last year — when UCC and CIT squared up against one another in the Mardyke — 26 players from Cork featured amongst the 42 which saw game-time.
Eleven of those players have either played, or have been involved with Cork senior teams, with eight already having played championship.
Six of those players from last year’s final were involved in the squad last Saturday night when Cork opened their league campaign.
Although it is only natural that Cork colleges will attract Cork students, the progress made by UCC and CIT in recent years has been a critically important outlet for young Cork players who haven’t had any tradition of success at underage.
The local rivalry that has built up between the two colleges has also provided a real spark in Cork hurling circles.
Fitzgibbon Cup finals always have the potential for drama but last year’s decider was one of the most spell-binding of all, with the winning score from Seamus Corry coming in injury-time of extra-time.  When the sides met in last week’s Fitzgibbon quarter-final, CIT looked as if they would avenge last year’s final defeat when they led by 1-10 to 1-8 with 10 minutes remaining. But five successive points helped to turn the game UCC’s way.
There was a time when UCC ran the Fitzgibbon Cup. That was when the competition was confined to just a handful of colleges but their greatest period of dominance was between 1981 and 1991 when they won 10 Fitzgibbons in 11 seasons.
Although Cork were a superior force at club level and colleges level, it was no surprise that that dominance at third level colleges also coincided with Cork’s stranglehold
in Munster and the three All-Irelands they won in that period.
Those UCC sides included Richard Browne, Pat Hartnett, John Considine, Mark Foley, Cathal Casey and Paul O’Connor, Cork players who went on to win Munster and All-Ireland titles.
When UCC had their next period of dominance in the mid 1990s, winning three Fitzgibbon’s between 1996-98, and contesting a fourth successive final in 1999, those sides also produced future All-Ireland medal winners in Seanie McGrath, Joe Deane, Alan Cummins and John Browne.
Afterwards, UCC went through their most fallow period in the competition — 11 years — and didn’t win another Fitzgibbon Cup until 2009.  Anthony Nash, Shane O’Neill, Conor O’Sullivan and Stephen Moylan were all on board. Last year’s winning team included Moylan, William Egan, Darren McCarthy, Killian Murphy and Seamus Harnedy.
It would have included Conor Lehane only he was still a fresher.
UCC’s dominance at freshers level has also been very apparent in recent years, having won the last three titles.
They are on the hunt for four-in-a-row today when they square up to UCD in the semi-final in Dr Morris Park in Thurles.
There is also a tangible link between Cork and those sides with Ger Cunningham as both Cork and UCC freshers coach. Cunningham’s presence and coaching style also makes the pathway easier for young UCC players trying to forge their way into the Cork senior squad.
With UCC’s progress, alongside CIT’s achievement in reaching the 2011 county final and last year’s Fitzgibbon final, the recent development of so many of those young Cork players is also important in the context of how hurling has evolved. Hurling’s biggest change last season was the huge volume of young players in the senior championship.
Compared to 2011, the number of U21 players playing for the top nine counties increased by 54%.
Hurling’s age profile is radically changing.
In the 2007 championship, the top nine counties used just 46 players under the age of 23, 17 of which were still U21. In the 2011 championship, the top nine used 69 players U23, 28 of which were still U21.  Yet during last summer the top nine counties used 85 players under 23, 43 of whom were still U21.
The number of U21 players featuring in the senior championship has increased by 153% since 2007.
Some of those figures are skewed because of the rebuilding jobs undertaken in counties such as Clare and Waterford, and the young talent at their disposal.
Yet more and more players are falling away before they are 30 and are being replaced by young guns.
The Cork management have gone for young guns and they made a hugely impressive start to the season on Saturday night.
For some of those UCC players, their focus now switches to the weekend and the Fitzgibbon Cup. UCC will be outsiders when they meet UCD in the semi-final on Friday, primarily because UCD came out on top by five points when the sides met in the league semi-final.
Yet UCC will fancy their chances because there is a swagger back in their step.  And that has always been good for Cork hurling.

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 Referee’s   Euro duties  keep on      growing  
ALAN KELLY

THE unofficial 17th team at Euro 2012 will be the UEFA appointed match officials.
As the media attention builds in anticipation of the big kick off tomorrow, it won’t be until after the first ball is kicked, will attention focus on the teams of six officials charged with ensuring that the laws of the game are adhered to.
Euro 2012 represents the first time that six match officials will be used in a major finals tournament.
The preparation for the Euro’s began for the match officials before the qualification campaign began.
Over the past two years UEFA has assessed a core group of 33 referees and their respective teams in qualification games as well as Champions League and Europa League games during that period and whittled it down to 12 referees, who will be accompanied by their respective teams of two Assistants Referees (AR), two Additional Assistant referees (AAR’s) and a fourth official.
In January, UEFA’s Elite Referees gathered for a four-day winter training and workshop in Antalya in Turkey, where fitness was assessed, extensive visual examinations completed along with 15 hours of lectures focussing on DVD analysis of match incidents from the group stages of this year’s competitions.
This workshop was the build up for the knock-out stages that commenced in February, but also a prelude to the build up for the Euros.
Having been lucky enough to have attended workshops at this level for the past three seasons, I can testify to the fact that no stone is left unturned by UEFA in ensuring that the preparation of referees, both physically and mentally, is at the highest level.
In early May, all of the participating match officials at Euro 2012 attended a four-day workshop in Warsaw where they will be based for the duration of the tournament.
At this workshop the officials again had to undertake a fitness test as well as intense DVD analysis of the afore mentioned games in the knock out stages of UEFA club competitions.
Twenty hours of lectures were also conducted culminating in guidelines being provided for the Euros.
These guidelines focussed on protecting the player’s safety, protecting the image of the game and forming consistency in decision making.
By now people who watch Champions League and Europa League games will be familiar with the ‘referees behind the goal’, the AAR’s.
The AAR experiment is one the International Football Association Board (IFAB) introduced two years ago to try and improve incidents within the penalty area primarily.
It still remains an experiment and will be introduced to championship finals for the first time in Poland and the Ukraine.
Their role is to assist the referee primarily with regard to incidents within the penalty area.
You will never see an AAR point for a decision whether it is a corner, penalty, goal kick, or gesture for holding, shirt pulling or simulation.
The reason for this is that they are not permitted to do so.
They are permitted to communicate to the referee by microphone only, and not through body language or gestures.
I am often asked why they don’t give decisions?
My answer is simple; they do give decisions, but they give them by word and not by action.
That is why it is not picked up by TV. There have been numerous cases where they have communicated correct decisions and cases where they have communicated incorrect decisions.
The AAR’s at the tournament will have worked with their referees many times during the course of the season.
They are also FIFA international referees themselves with a wealth of experience.
When it comes to the area of fitness and nutrition the match officials at the Euros will be as prepared as the players.
As the game has evolved, so has the sports science aspect and this is an area that I have much experience in.
During a recent press conference to discuss the preparation of match officials for the tournament, UEFA’s head of refereeing, Pierluigi Collina commented that  referees prepare like athletes. The physical demands of top flight football mean that  fitness levels for referees match those of the players.
The statistics have shown that a referee will cover more ground during the game than most if not all players.
Referees will cover on average 11 kilometres per game at varying speeds and directions.
The referees receive weekly training programs from UEFA’s fitness coach, Dr Werner Helsen and are required to feedback the training information garnered from Polar Watches (these monitor Heart Rate and performance) through downloading the information from the watches and sending the information to Dr Helsen to analyse.
Dietary requirements are no different to those of professional athletes.
Body fat percentage is monitored and checked and if this area falls outside the parameters then match officials are not considered for games.
During the tournament the match officials will have plenty of time in between games.
This time will be filled with daily training sessions, the intensity of which will be determined by the match schedule per referee team.
They will also undergo match analysis of their respective games in a two hour long debrief as well as collective analysis of match situations that occur during the tournament.
They will of course have some down time where they can avail of golf, tennis etc.
They are also away from their families for a minimum of two weeks but what will invariably be up to five weeks for some so a lot of time will be spent on Skype to keep in touch.
The referees have been at many seminars together over the past number of years and some of them will have formed close friendships.
But like the teams, they’ll also be competing with each other for games, especially after the group stage.
I have close friends refereeing in the tournament and hope that they remember the tournament for their positive performances rather than a decision that may have a baring on a teams progression in the tournament.

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A DECADE ago they seemed on the cusp of something different. Irish football fans of a certain generation (actually, any generation) had a prototype Irish player in their heads and these guys weren’t it.
 Irish players didn’t smack last-second equalisers against Germans or knock in last-kick penalties against Spain like it was the most normal thing in the world. They certainly didn’t beat players for fun, skipping down wings like there was no tomorrow.
Robbie Keane and Damien Duff did, and they did it at a World Cup and they were about to take Ireland new places and become superstars. 10 years on, we still can’t figure out how close they got.

It was Duff we were more excited about to be honest. Sure he’d been promising at Blackburn but the chasing he gave to that Spanish defence in that second round game was a statement of intent. 
He moved to mega-bucks Chelsea and was so generally decent Claudio Ranieri’s mom gave out to her son if Duff wasn’t played. He went into a different level, scored goals against Barcelona in the Champions league, a wonder goal against Lazio, performed as part of a wonderful, unplayable double act with Arjen Robben for a sensational few months under Mourinho.
 On a Goals on Sunday programme at the time, Eidur Gudjohnsen was asked by Rob McCaffrey who the most skilful player in the Chelsea training ground was under the new Abramovich era (McCaffrey offered Joe Cole, Veron, Crespo etc) – he answered Damien Duff, as beating players was the greatest skill of them all.
For Ireland at the time, he became the go-to player to the extent it was just too obvious in that 2003-2006 era where the only gameplan seemed to be feed Duff and wait for inspiration; we remember a game in summer 2003 where it was pretty much Duff v Russia (it ended 1-1, Duff scoring, obviously). In short, he was a serious guy in a serious league.

But, this was a while ago. Since the highs of 04/05, in order. 05/06 – replaced by Joe Cole at Chelsea. 06/07 – moved to Newcastle, injury hit year. 07/08 – no goals or assists, dropped by Newcastle. 08/09 – on a relegated Newcastle side, struggled so much he was played left-back at one stage.
 09/10 – to Fulham, average. 10/11 – see previous year. 11/ 12 – lost place at Fulham before having a pretty decent last few months.
 Total goals/ assists in first two years with Chelsea:  11 goals/ 16 assists; Total goals/ assists over seven years in Premier league since: 16 goals/ 11 assists (we realise this can be a crude, overused stat, but a forward like Duff needs to be scoring or creating goals, if not then what’s the point exactly?)
The nagging worries we had through that special time – the weak crosses and shots, the fitness issue, the lack of real killer speed – all took their turn.
Duff went from the brink of genuine excellence to ordinary, where he’s still neat and tidy in possession, still has a little trick to beat a player now and then but just doesn’t put bums on the floor like he used to or frighten teams (and he did frighten teams).
He’s scored once for Ireland since 2006 and had no assists in the last qualifiers. He’s hardly been a failure, but he just didn’t kick on for quite long enough to become that superstar he threatened for two years.

If Duff is a tough one to classify, Robbie Keane’s probably the most complex player we’ve ever analysed.

(And he’s got competition. As a fun game, let’s offer the same critique to the rest of the ‘golden generation’ – John O’Shea, Richard Dunne, Shay Given.
O’Shea: Premier league medals hanging off him, consistent twenty-five games a season for Man Utd or the guy who could never perform quite well or quite long enough to be more than a utility player.
Dunne: reliable, backs-to-the-wall stopper who was consistently voted player of the season by Man City or stodgy, one-paced, defender with a knack for own goals who struggled to maintain a serious level of performance.
Given: one of the most respected keepers in the Premier league generation but never been trusted at a top club and always strangely behind a shaky defence.
See how awkward it can get? See how easily you can make an argument they’re Irish legends or disappointments in the same breath?)

Keane’s a humdinger though. 10 or more Premier league goals for seven seasons in a row but eternally failing to convince of belonging at that level.
Holds title of player most likely to nab important winner/equaliser for Ireland while also player most likely to evoke intense feelings of frustration.
Since 2002 he’s both fallen from favour with every single Spurs manager and been their main man at different times, mixing spells where you think, “Yeah, he’s really got it at last” with months of nothing.

Keane had two years after World Cup 02 where he was bright, sparky and scoring goals for Spurs, then eighteen months of poor form, then a really decent few months at the end of 05/06 partnering Mido, then six months of bitty form, then the back end of 06/07 and 07/08 in the form of his life up front with Dimitar Berbatov.
Around this time, he scored a double at Anfield which contained two typical Robbie Keane goals (running in behind a defence onto flick-ons, though there’s also that trick where he pretends to move near post but drifts far post), a belter of a late equaliser against Chelsea, crackers away at Fulham and it appeared he was actually becoming the player he had promised.
The Liverpool move though, just brought up all those limitations – tactical unawareness of the headless sort, lack of real killer finishing at times of doubt – and he hasn’t had a decent season since, to the extent three seasons of mediocrity had made him unwanted at the top level.

The feeling with Keane was always that he was just a step below that place where you could comfortably put him in the top bracket, a very good Premier league player but not close to a great one.
He’d get 10-14 league goals but wouldn’t get twenty. He’d never quite give a chasing to a top defence or defender (I’ve never seen him perform against United for example). For Ireland, he’s had nights where he’s contributed very, very little, but he’s tended towards the good stuff with his country more often. And in truth, if you’re backing someone to take a chance, you wouldn’t pick anybody else in the squad right now.
A tournament like 2002 might just mean history looks a little kinder on Robbie than sometimes suggested. Like Damien Duff, there’s a small sense of what-might-have-been though.

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A story to begin. A bar in Levanto on the Italian coast. Italy are hammering Sweden 1-0 in the second game of Euro 2004 with a wonderful, flowing performance of attacking intent for an hour. Then, Italy replace a forward with a midfielder, Fiore for Cassano. Then another forward with another midfielder, Camoranesi for Del Piero. Then a midfielder with a defender, Favalli for Gattuso. From being in charge, they’ve given all control to the opposition – the Guardian minute-by-minute at the time described the finishing formation as 9-0-1 – and are punished with a late, brilliant Zlatan equaliser. Still, the locals’ anger focuses on Christian Vieri, who’s missed some great chances. They won’t criticise the manager for being defensive, they say instead, what he did was ‘Italian.’ The manager, of course, was Giovanni Trapattoni.

For such a bright, positive man, the word ‘negative’ seems to get used a lot with our Italian manager. A guy who’s won leagues in four different countries (Mourinho only recently joined that band) gets made out to be helpless quite a bit. If we can quash some annoying myth-type beliefs that are out there, it might help shine light on his methods here.

1 He’s got a horrible tournament record with Italy at World Cup 02 and Euro 04. It will go down in history as so, but delve deeper and you’ll see that their loss to South Korea in 2002 was pickled by some dodgy decisions, awful finishing from Christian Vieri and some really bad luck, that they went out of Euro 2004 with five points from the group (that’s odd in itself) without playing that badly or losing a game and really it was a freak set of scorelines that saw them off.

2 That he won’t change players/ systems. It does seem people are slow to remember Trap actually introduced a lot of the guys we’re seeing on the Irish squad right now, giving runs to Whelan, Andrews, Walters, Ward, St Ledger, and others. He brought in Liam Lawrence and got rid again. And anyone remember Bari, when he adapted to the rhythm of the game – bringing on Leon Best very early, giving Robbie Keane a free role, changing John O’Shea to right back to give more attacking threat – and nabbed a draw. He also took the handbrake off, when necessary, in Paris.

3 That he doesn’t trust the flair players/ that everyone must be a worker bee

Trapattoni’s Italian side variously attempted to fit Totti-Del Piero-Vieri or Cassano-Del Piero-Vieri into the attacking line-up; check out the starting line-up v Sweden in Euro 04 with the latter three in attack, Perrotta joining up from midfield, Pirlo creating and the two full-backs bombing on. His Fiorentina of Rui Costa-Edmundo/Chiesa-Batistuta (a side that went to the San Siro and beat champions AC Milan side 3-1, a star-filled Inter 4-0 and European champions Man Utd 2-0 in the space of a few months) could hardly be described as dull or lacking in fantasy. Trap’s not slow to integrate serious ability.

4 That he’s stuck on 4-4-2

System Trapattoni used most often with Fiorentina in the late 90s: 3-4-1-2. System Trapattoni used most often with Italy in two tournaments: 4-3-1-2. We’ve argued before that Trap’s reasoning behind sticking with 4-4-2 here with Ireland rests with a few factors. It’s what the players are comfortable with and because international managers have so little time to develop tactically, he doesn’t have time to teach anything else.  It’s the most solid, basic formation to set up a reasonably limited bunch. Trap would have noticed we’re pretty well sorted for wingers and forwards and reasoned that it would be best to get as many of our stronger players on the field. If we were to add extra bodies into midfield it would mean playing one up front – dropping Robbie Keane would be damn difficult given his record; playing him alone up front would be madness, as he’s never shown the awareness or skills to be able to do that. It all points to 4-4-2. The idea that just putting an extra body in midfield would result in us suddenly able to control a game is also slightly flawed; it could well only lead to us retreating deeper, losing shape and becoming more isolated in attack (our potential front three don’t look suited to playing as a front three).

Look, this rush to criticise our defensiveness misses the point (though it can be understandable of course, myself and the guy I was with couldn’t speak for about an hour after the 0-0 Slovakia game last September with depression). Trapattoni assessed our strengths (good spirit, workmanlike, ability to dig in with a few warriors at the back, strong on wings and up front) and weaknesses (tendency to switch off, lack of creativity, absence of serious ballplayers in midfield, the fact we couldn’t string two decent results back-to-back). The gameplan he came up with to obtain consistency is hardly a shock; you’re not going to build an awesome, total footballing force with a group of players who generally have trouble keeping possession at the best of times. The man has devised his tactics so that keeping possession – while not discouraged or anything, if the players can get on the ball, they will – isn’t really a vital element of getting results. If Trapattoni decided we were heading out to spray the ball around and take teams on, we’d soon see our limitations and take a few chasings; though we’d argue the loss of Stephen Reid after two games robbed us of one midfielder who was capable of making this happen a bit more. Ask us to be solid and retain our shape and hey, it’s something we can do. Ireland are reactive rather than proactive, we’re well organised and know our jobs. We scored most goals from set-pieces in qualifying. This isn’t exactly against the norm for sides looking to be competitive above their level. Most recent evidence of teams overperforming in competitions point to sides who look to remain solid and tight rather than outplaying teams – Greece in 2004, Uruguay/ Paraguay in Copa America, Zambia in African nations, even Chelsea in this season’s Champions league. There’s a sense that we can sometimes get ahead of ourselves about our abilities; most every championship preview outside this country goes along the lines of ‘Trapattoni’s doing a hell of a job to get that crowd this far.”

Nobody’s saying this is perfect. It can be awful to watch. We could look to play a little more progressively at times. We could certainly be a lot more fluent with movement on and off the ball in possession – our four forward players never seem to create angles of passing which would open space to run into and it’s all played in straight lines too often. But for all the criticism, Trapattoni has made us perform generally above our standing, and given us a fighting chance in a terribly tough group (if we take three thumpings it won’t change a thing by the way, getting out of this group would be a major, major achievement). He’s probably done it the only way it could have been done too. Defensive or Italian, the man deserves some credit.

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WILL it be lucky 13 for Counihan? A win would do nicely, but only for symmetric reasons of course, levelling the record at five wins and five defeats with three draws, though Kerry’s championship stats are better.
The Kingdom have four wins to Cork’s two in nine meetings with three draws and after losing to their great rivals in Munster, Kerry bounced back to win the All-Ireland on both occasions.
What is certain, though, from a Cork perspective is the need to jump quickly out of the blocks, because any repeat of the last games against Kerry simply won’t suffice.
Cork trailed by six points at half-time in the league defeat by two earlier in the year and in last season’s championship, Kerry swept nine in front at the same stage.
“You leave yourself with an awful lot to do. We can’t afford that kind of slippage. I don’t honestly how why it’s happened.
“You gear fellows up to get ready from the word go and it just didn’t happen. We weren’t as focused as we should have been,” Counihan commented.
Both Cork and Kerry don’t lack added incentives to compensate for last year, when Mayo and Dublin did them in the All-Ireland quarter-final and final respectively.
Well-documented injuries to Daniel Goulding, Colm O’Neill and Ciarán Sheehan robbed Cork of half of their attacking options and clearly no team can afford that level of haemorrhaging.
“We’ll never know about last year. If we had everyone who knows where we would have went. Was it a lack of hunger or was it that we had so many injuries?
“Fellows went through last year and all the disappointment associated with that, but they’ve got the hunger to start winning things again.
“In hindsight losing probably didn’t do any harm because they’re very dedicated, set high standards for themselves and defeat doesn’t sit well for them at any stage and that’s the way you’d want it.
“We’ve had a bad run with injuries, but I think the tide has turned now, though I’m reluctant to make statements like that, because no sooner than you say it something goes wrong.
“Training has been competitive and they all know what happens in training dictates the team.”
Kerry are also on a revenge mission and Counihan reckons they’re  favourites to advance to a Munster final meeting with either Limerick or Clare.
“They’ve been the standard-bearers over the last few years. They’re a  good side and have made no secret of the fact they were very disappointed after last year’s defeat by Dublin.
“Their one vision this year is to regain Sam and maybe right the wrongs of last year as they would see them.
“I think everyone knows they’ve trained very hard, including during the winter, which would be unusual for Kerry. They’ve huge motivation this year.”
As is the way these days nothing is left to chance and Cork’s preparations included a session with inter-county referee Michael Collins from Clonakilty concerning the new square ball rule change.
Counihan is keeping his counsel for the moment on its implications for the championship.
“It’s hard to see what kind of an impact it will have on games. It will depend on how teams set themselves up, but also how it will be interpreted by referees and umpires.
“It’s still going to be a very marginal decision either way, so you just don’t really know and I think you’d have to look at it over a series of games to see what sort of influence it will have.
“Will some teams decide to play a big full-forward and get their man to sit in there? I don’t think it will be as big an impact as some people might think, but we’ll wait and see.”
Cork used Aidan Walsh as their target man during the league and it’s safe to say it remains a work in progress.
“He gives us that big, physical presence there. It’s an option for us. I’m not going to say now that it’s the option we’re going to use. By using him there in the league we know we can get certain values from him.
“How do you defend it? Do you put three players across the goal line? I wouldn’t be planning that big for it.”
Once again Cork enter the championship as league winners, claiming the division one title for the third consecutive season and fourth on the spin, when the 2009 division two title is included
“It was a great tribute to the players’ consistency over four years. It’s very important from a Cork football viewpoint that we are seen to be consistent.
“The more competitive we are and the more trophies we can win the better the chance we have of raising the overall standard.
“Qualifying for the knock-out phase of the league was crucial because you find it hard to get quality challenge games at this time of the year. The club scene does keep players on their toes and they go out for a break, which wasn’t so bad either. But the situation here is fairly competitive so you can’t afford to be not motivated.”
And Kerry’s semi-final defeat by Mayo was probably good for football in the general sense, too, preventing Munster’s big two from clashing again before the main event.
“Teams meeting too often wouldn’t be great for either the teams or the general public I’d imagine, so it probably wasn’t a bad thing.”
Just makes Sunday’s encounter even more appealing!

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As we count down to the London Olympics, Dave Hannigan  recalls one of the most controversial decision in Games history 40 years ago in Munich

FORTY years later, the 12 silver medals have never been presented. They remain gathering dust in a Swiss vault, the unwanted tokens of a perceived injustice.
Over the years, intermittent attempts to persuade their owners to take possession of them have come to nothing.
In Munich on September 11, 1972, the 12 members of the US basketball squad that lost the most bizarre Olympic final of all voted unanimously not to accept silver, and any reneging now would somehow diminish the stance that was made.
That day they watched the truncated medal ceremony on television, and as their opponents, the USSR, fingered their gold discs triumphantly, the empty second-placed spot on the podium bore witness to the extent of America’s dissatisfaction.
“If you win gold, you are in the record book for eternity,” says Mike Bantom, one of the recalcitrant dozen. He sits in his office at the heart of the National Basketball Association’s marketing operation in New Jersey, remembering the days when he sported an Afro, and contemplating what might have been.
“It hurt, but the passing of time has made me realise that having a medal is not the most important thing in my life. The things that made me work hard and earn that medal have made me what I am today.
“I’m not going to achieve anything by getting that medal. The Russians didn’t prove they were the best by holding their gold medals, either.”
A couple of Bantom’s teammates have clauses in their wills stating that their descendants must never accept silver on their behalf. This is how much it still means.
With 10 seconds left, and his team nursing a one-point lead, Alexsander Belov’s poor pass was intercepted by America’s 6ft 6in guard, Doug Collins. Driving the length of the court, Collins was on his way to making an easy basket when he was upended and knocked unconscious. As he came to, the American could hear coach Hank Iba dismissing his assistant John Bach’s suggestion that somebody other than Collins should take the free throws.
“If Doug can walk,” said Iba, “he’ll shoot.”
Hearing the 66-year-old coach so gung-ho invigorated Collins. Though groggy, he realised what his two throws meant. Since basketball became an Olympic sport in 1936, the US had not lost a match at this level. Having trailed the USSR all evening, they had two shots at redemption. If Collins could sink them, the founders of the game would have to hold a 50-49 lead for three seconds. He did it.
“I can’t even remember feeling any pressure,” said Collins, now coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. “Three dribbles, spin the ball, toss it in, same as in my backyard. I didn’t know what I was made of until then.”
On the Soviet bench, Vladimir Kondrashin couldn’t believe what was happening. His team had held an eight-point lead with six minutes remaining, and now it had come down to this.
Kondrashin tried to call a time-out, intending to use it after the first of the free throws to unveil his last-ditch plan to his players. But the German officials didn’t inform the Bulgarian and Brazilian referees on the court of Kondrashin’s request immediately.
As Collins’s second throw swooshed through the air towards the net, the time-out horn sounded belatedly.
No time-out was allowed. Sergei Bashkin, the Soviet assistant coach, stood up to protest and was overruled. The USSR were ordered to restart. Ivan Edeshko’s attempted pass was deflected away to safety, the American bench streamed on to the court and for the first time that night the Olympic final was over.
But the longest three seconds in the history of sport were only beginning…
The American team had spent their training camp at Schofield army barracks in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. They slept 12 to a dormitory room, worked out three times a day and, when their concentration waned, Bach would tell his charges that the crimson stains on the walls were blood, the last remnants of the Japanese attack in 1941.
With an average age of 20.7, this was the youngest US basketball team to play at an Olympics, and all were students, coming off campuses wracked by the protest culture of the day.
They were representing a country whose international reputation was being impugned on a daily basis by events in Vietnam, and upon arriving in Germany they found somebody circulating the rooms with a petition requesting President Richard Nixon to stop the bombing.
In a time of social change at home, and assaults on the world order abroad, they were playing the only major American sport to have a genuine international dimension.
At the finish, the circumstances of their defeat would confirm a lot of people’s prejudices about communism.
“For the most part, none of us had been out of the country before,” Bantom said. “We were Americans, but some of us were black Americans and there is a difference there in terms of how you feel about your place in society.
“Once we got over there, we saw all the different nations, all the different people, and how it was to be representing your country. I would have felt really proud to win a gold medal for my country.”
The Soviets, too, were products of their own environment; even their Olympic ambitions came tempered by the decision-makers at the Kremlin.
 Only 20 years after entering their first basketball team in the competition, they did not think they could beat the best American amateurs, and reaching the final was the summit of their achievement.
Before the game, the players prepared themselves a massive banquet, the principal ingredients of which were German sausage and cold beer. They would celebrate finishing second because that was what they had come to do.
Before East could collide with West, another of the world’s conflicts would intrude. Five days before the final, two days before the US disposed of Italy in their semi-final game, a group of Black September terrorists stormed the building where the Israeli contingent were staying and set in motion a train of events culminating in the massacre of nine athletes and two coaches.
“The incident with the Israelis happened just across the courtyard from us,” said Bantom.
“We were saying, ‘We want to go home, we don’t want to finish these Games’.”
They were told the Olympics were bigger than everything; the show had to go on.
It was the Bulgarian official, Artenik Arabadjan, who decided there were people on the court when Edeshko had tried to find a team-mate. Arabadjan ordered the three seconds to be replayed, but again Edeshko couldn’t complete the pass.
Tom McMillen did the job of guarding him, the ball never reached a Soviet player and the court filled again with the jubilant American bench. Once more, the joy was short-lived.
As the USSR contingent stood at the scorers’ table arguing their position, pandemonium ensued, and R William Jones, the British secretary of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), entered the scene.
Jones decreed that the USSR be allowed to have their time-out and given back their three seconds.
That intervention in the officiating of a game was way beyond his remit and became just one more grotesque facet of the affair.
Amid all the brouhaha, Iba had his pocket picked and the Americans did not have time to formulate a proper defensive strategy.
Their disorganisation was soon compounded by one of the referees ordering McMillen to back off Edeshko, allowing him a better view of the floor.
Even then, Edeshko committed a foul by stepping inbounds before hurling the ball 94ft to Belov under the American basket.
“We had two guys on Belov,” said Bantom. “When they threw that pass, he blatantly pushed them in the back. It wasn’t like he used guile to move them with his body, he f***ing pushed them. I’m sitting there on the bench because I had fouled out and it happened right in front of me.”
Belov tipped the ball into the basket as the clock ran out: 51-50.
“And this time, it is over,” said Frank Gifford, commentating for ABC. His counterpart on Soviet television, Nina Eremina, a former star of the women’s national team, burst into tears.
On appeal, the decision was allowed to stand, the FIBA jury of five countries dividing along predictable political lines. Hungary, Poland and Cuba sided with the USSR; Italy and Puerto Rico went with the US. Uncertain as to how things would pan out, the Soviet players did not touch their victory banquet until Kondrashin returned with news of the vote.
“Well, guys,” said the coach, with a straight face. “There is going to be a replay…in 1976 in Montreal.” Their party began.
“We watched the medal ceremony and realised they were going to screw us over like this,” said Bantom.
“There was nothing to do but go out and let our hair down at the disco. We were 19-and 20-year-old kids and had dedicated our summer to doing this. We were really disillusioned because at that point in all our lives, we all still felt that right triumphs.”
Upon returning home, there were recriminations in the American press. Some pundits reckoned it was Iba’s ultra-cautious style of play that got the team into this mess in the first place, ignoring the fact his methods had been good enough to take gold in 1964 and 1968. Each player received a letter from Nixon telling them: “You’re still champs in my eyes.”
 Nine of the 12 made it to the NBA, McMillen became a US congressman for Maryland and all seem to have prospered professionally.
On the other side, Belov was dead within six years. The official cause of death was heart disease, but rumours abound that Belov died violently as a result of his involvement in a smuggling ring.
The state named a prestigious basketball tournament after him, and Kondrashin turned his office into a shrine for his favourite player.
He had known the star forward since he was a promising child and for years after his death the coach would drive around his home city of St Petersburg with a photograph of Belov in his car, a reminder of their finest three seconds together.
Bantom has his keepsakes, too. Through the years, several people have sent him videos of the game and, in his office, he has a picture of himself as a young man, decked out in the red, white and blue uniform of his country.
“We would all love to be able to tell our kids we have an Olympic gold medal,” he said.
“The fact that we don’t, well, if this is the worst thing that happens to any of us, we are all going to have very blessed lives.”
He dissolves into a cheery laugh that sounds as though it has been decades coming.

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