Páirc Uí Chaoimh pitch issue gives Denis Coughlan deja vu
Denis Coughlan has played more games at Páirc Uí Chaoimh than he cares to remember, in both football and hurling.
Yet one game has stuck out for the former All-Ireland football and hurling medallist as he’s listened in recent weeks to the kerfuffle over the state of the pitch.
The area covered in shadow by the imposing south stand has been particularly affected though Coughlan says it wasn’t any different when the original Páirc Uí Chaoimh was constructed, in the mid 1970s.
“I was playing in the first county final in the Páirc, ‘76, the Glen and Blackrock, and I was playing left half-back and I was on that side of the pitch, where the stand overhangs,” said Coughlan.
“It was a damp day, and I slipped and I got a very, very serious eye injury from it, total accident.
“But that is 40 years ago, nearly 45 years ago, and it was in the same spot where the issue is now, the south stand. So it is exactly the same side of the field so there is no excuse at all, that over 40 years have gone by and in this day and age they couldn’t figure it.”
The GAA confirmed last week that all of Cork’s remaining league games, in both codes, will be played at Páirc Uí Rinn as experts mull over how to repair the pitch.
A full replacement has been factored into the estimated €95.8m bill for the overall redevelopment of the ground with suggestions that the cost specifically for a new pitch and its maintenance could close in on €2m.
Asked if he’s confident that this will ultimately solve the ground’s longs-tanding surface issues, former Hurler of the Year Coughlan shrugged.
“I will believe it when I see it!” he said. “I am not being smart or anything, and I do stand up for the Cork county board. They get things wrong definitely but by and large you can’t criticise them too much because somebody has to do what they are doing. What this whole thing has brought out more than anything else is that people don’t mind being inconvenienced if it means that we have a great pitch, because the players deserve it.”
Coughlan isn’t alarmed by confirmation of a near €10m overrun of costs on the initial €86m estimate for the ground’s redevelopment, arguing that this is ‘very manageable’.
“By and large, in terms of the stadium, what I am really, really cross about is the pitch,” he said. “There is no excuse for having a bad pitch, at any time, but in particular when you are spending the sort of money that they did on the stadium, they should have got a perfect pitch.”
Coughlan, an All-Ireland football winner in 1973, said the current team under Ronan McCarthy ‘have a long way to go’ to become seriously competitive again.
“For Clare to beat them twice within a couple of months, and good luck to Clare, but that shouldn’t be happening to Cork football if they are serious about winning an All-Ireland,” he said.
The three-time All-Ireland hurling medallist was more upbeat about John Meyler’s side, claiming an improvement at the back could put them on the brink of major honours.
“I think the Cork hurlers would need to tighten up in quite a bit. I have no qualms about saying that, If they get their defence right, I definitely see Cork in the last four this year, ” said Coughlan.
Cork have held the lead in the second-half of the last two All-Ireland semi-finals before caving in on both occasions, most notably against Limerick last year when they were six points up with just minutes to go.
“There was an old saying when I was playing, the advice I always got was that when you’re ahead, it’s then you really mark your man. And know where he is and what to do. I think Cork just fell down on that front in the last 10 minutes of the Limerick game.”
