Des Cullinane: A root and branch review required for Cork football at all levels

Des Cullinane says it’s time for a 'root and branch review' of Cork football at all levels.

The experienced GAA administrator has been involved in coaching teams for the best part of 30 years and knows the game on Leeside inside out. Cullinane coached UCC to Cork SFC and Munster glory in 1999 and was a Cork senior football selector in 2022.

It was a disappointing 2024 for Cork football as a whole. The senior team didn’t reach the Munster final and lost at the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final stage, while the Rebel U20 and minor teams were well beaten by Kerry in their respective Munster deciders.

The bigger picture though, Cork haven’t won the All-Ireland SFC since 2010 and the Munster title since 2012. At U20 level, it’s 2019 and 2021 since the Leesiders last won the All-Ireland and Munster trophies. The Cork minor footballers did claim back-to-back provincial crowns in 2021 and 2022, but it’s 2019 since the All-Ireland title was lifted.

“First of all, I do think the Cork senior footballers are heading in the right direction,” Cullinane says.

Des Cullinane wants a review of Cork football at all levels. Picture: INPHO/Ciaran Culligan

“I actually thought they played very well this year. Their season hinged on that Tyrone game and they should have won it. In fairness to John Cleary and his management team, they are putting a huge effort in.

"But, I went to a lot of club matches around the county this season and I am saying, who are the standout players that will come into the Cork team next year? Players that are going to knock the current guys off their perch. They are not there. The standard of Cork club football is not great, let's be honest.

“We need a root and branch review with regards to the bigger picture. We have to get leadership in terms of what direction Cork football is going. Conor Counihan has left his role as director of football. The next plan is going to be a 10-year plan, I would be thinking. I was in Croke Park when Dublin GAA launched their Blue Wave. Before that was launched, Dublin were winning nothing. Dublin invested in football and got their rewards.

“I was down the Páirc when Cork GAA launched their five-year plan in 2019. It’s the easiest thing in the world to come out with a plan, but you need resources behind it and implement it. You need buy-in. I think we need a root and branch review of Cork football, underage and senior, the whole lot.

"If you keep doing the same things, you will get the same results. I am very passionate about Cork football. We need to look at it. We need Cork back competing for All-Ireland titles at all grades. I defy anybody that tells me that everything is rosy in the way we do things.”

Kerry goalkeeper Michael Tansley gives Hugh O’Connor of Cork a hand up after the Munster U20 football final this year. Picture: INPHO/Natasha Barton

Cullinane spent one season as a selector with the Cork senior footballers in 2022, and for the first time since his surprise departure, he opens up on his time with the Rebels and why he opted out.

“I loved my time involved, but I have a lot of commitments. I am also school principal with Cork ETB. I was Cork U21 football coach from 2000 to 2003, but those were the days when you trained two nights a week and played a match at the weekend. What I noticed when I was with the Cork seniors nearly three years ago, it was constant, Monday to Sunday. I was literally running on empty in that sense. It was certainly affecting other things that I was doing.

“In fairness to John Cleary and the rest of the management, they have huge energy so I said lads, off ye go. John was very understanding. The effort that these guys are putting in is savage. John is involved for the love of Cork football.”

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