SOME MIGHT CALL IT the usual Cork arrogance; but Stephen White would argue it’s just the confidence typical of hurlers from Leeside.
The Ballygarvan native will be part of Jimmy Barry Murphy’s panel on Sunday as the Rebels look to take the Liam MacCarthy Cup south for the first time since 2005, with a victory over Clare.
And, despite a rocky start to the year, White says he always knew the blood-and-bandages would fly over Croke Park this month.
“Yeah, I definitely did [expect to reach the final,” White says. “I did an interview at the start of the year and I said, and I wasn’t just saying it, that a Cork team fears no one. I think that held up true all year.
“We respect every opponent we played, but we don’t fear anyone. We’re a Cork team and that’s the way I was brought up and with all the underage success we had. I think people forget that we had underage success. We don’t fear anyone and everyone inside in the panel believed we could get to Cork Park on the second Sunday in September. We have achieved that.
“We got questioned after the relegation final with Clare and I suppose that was nipped in the bud straight away by Jimmy Barry Murphy in the dressing room. He told us we had a quest — that was to get to the pinnacle, Croke Park in September, and to bounce back. While we left the dressing room disappointed we weren’t downhearted. We all knew that we could continue on and drive on for the year. I think while were we’re disappointed we bounced back straight away. We were back training the week after and we were all systems go from there.”
The young Cork team will hope to emulate the achievement of the callow-looking Rebels team in 1999 and win an All-Ireland under the iconic JBM.
“Jimmy Barry Murphy’s excellent and if he does one thing special it’s get a team focused on the task,” says White on the approach of the Barr’s man in the run-up to the qualifier with Kilkenny.
“He did that straight away after the Limerick game the same as he did after we were relegated. We weren’t doom and gloom over it — we knew we had a game after it and that’s what he set our sights on. That was our goal after defeat to Limerick.
He adds: “Jimmy Barry Murphy is an iconic figure in Cork. He’s a great leader, a great man manager and you can always go to talk to him about anything you need to have a chat about. If he asks you do jump you don’t even ask how high because you’re already in mid air. That’s what he brings. All the lads are delighted with him and we’ll do our very best for him.
“I wasn’t playing inter-county in ’99, but you hear the stories about what he achieved. It brings it home that he has been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. He has been through the mill, he knows how to bring a team through to Croke Park with a young team. He knows how to bring them but more importantly he knows how to bring them back down to Cork with the Liam MacCarthy Cup. That holds great belief for us.”
