CORK DEFENDER Stephen McDonnell says he wouldn’t be surprised if veteran duo Brian Murphy and Tom Kenny retired.
Versatile Grenagh clubman Kenny is the oldest member of the Cork squad at 32 while defender Murphy is 31.
Both featured in the All-Ireland hurling final replay defeat to Clare with two-time medallist Kenny appearing as a second-half substitute.
“It’s not for me to say but obviously Brian Murphy and Tom Kenny have been around a long while,” said McDonnell. “It would be no surprise if they didn’t come back next year.
“Fair play to them for staying around this long anyway. Other than that, age wouldn’t be an issue in the panel. But, you know, come 24, a fella can take a year off or anything. Who knows what will happen.”
At 27, full-back Shane O’Neill has time on his side to bounce back from his own personal difficulties at the hands of Clare’s Shane O’Donnell who bagged a stunning 3-3.
Corner-back McDonnell admitted he was surprised to see O’Donnell drafted into Clare’s full-forward line at the expense of Darach Honan.
“I was surprised because he (Honan) is obviously a very good player,” continued McDonnell. “I didn’t think they’d drop him. Shane O’Donnell is good as well. But Shane O’Neill is well able to adapt to whoever he’s playing so when I saw O’Donnell, I said, ‘Grand, Shane will be fine’. That was the least of my worries, to be honest, about Shane O’Donnell.”
Despite leaking three early goals to O’Donnell, Cork fought back to level terms twice in the second-half.
“We couldn’t get in front,” reflected McDonnell. “If you look up at the score board and see yourself a point up, it does two things; it gives you more confidence to kick on and it puts the seed of doubt in their heads. We were always a point down or whatever.”
The 24-year-old Glen Rovers club man is optimistic that Cork can push on next year. But he predicts that the Munster championship will be extremely competitive, let alone the All-Ireland series.
“That’s something that’s kind of stirring around the place since the game, that the Munster championship next year will be very, very good,” said McDonnell. “I mean Waterford are probably outsiders but they could beat any one of us.”
McDonnell said Cork believe they can ultimately win an All-Ireland but accepts others probably feel the same.
“There’s an All-Ireland in this team the same way there’s an All-Ireland in Kilkenny’s team, in Tipperary’s team, Clare’s team, Limerick, any of us can win it,” he said.
