Ian Maguire: Cork's league campaign not for nothing, even if declared null and void

There are no what-ifs with Ian Maguire.

Had he allowed the mind to wander about the summer Cork football may have had, you could hardly blame him for having done so.

No question but Ronan McCarthy’s charges were motoring well pre-lockdown. Their five league wins from five in Division 3 was a run of victories unmatched across the four tiers.

Promotion was more or less wrapped up. Tier 2 was no longer on their radar. And then, a global pandemic happened.

“There is nothing you can do about Covid-19 so I wouldn't be worrying about what-ifs,” says Maguire, not long after closing the laptop on his daily 8am-4pm shift with Grant Thornton.

He accepts the strong possibility of the 2020 National League being declared null and void. But that is not to say Cork’s spring endeavours will have been for nothing.

Some teams may lose out if the league is written off, but from a Cork football perspective, what I’d be focusing on is that we were playing well, we had momentum, and we have a good team.

“Even just speaking from what went on in the WhatsApp group, each player took responsibility upon themselves to keep training away even when it wasn't looking great. There is a bit more maturity within the panel. There are nothing but positives to build on."

Training programs might no longer be in circulation, but the Cork WhatsApp group is still a hive of activity.

Most days, one of the players will throw in their time from a 5km run, piquing the interest of fellow teammates to see if they can better said time. That competitive instinct can’t be locked away like pitches and club grounds.

“It is like everything, you have good days where you are training and you're really up for it. And then there are other days where you are saying, I'm going out here doing 60 minutes of running and football, and what's it for at the end of the day.

“Personally, I've tried to take an ultra-positive approach and not look too far ahead. There’s simply no point because, unfortunately, the Covid-19 goalposts change every day. All you can do for now is try and keep positive and keep looking after yourself.

“In the group at the moment, and loads of people will probably relate to this, everyone does a 5km, they throw in their time, and even though it is a harmless 5km, everybody's looking at what time others got and you’re measuring yourself against it. It’s a mini-competition amongst ourselves and it's good fun.” 

 Those 5km runs will come in useful tomorrow as each player is tasked with running 10km as part of the panel’s fundraiser for Pieta House. The plan is to cover 432km, the distance it takes to run through each of the 24 clubs represented in the Cork set-up.

Maguire, as team captain, will be first on the road, circling his native Togher from 9am. Their efforts, says the midfielder, are as much about raising awareness as they are raising money.

“When I was on the phone to Pat Duffy of Pieta House telling him about some of the ideas lads had come up with for fundraising, the first thing he said to me was, 'regardless of the money brought in, you don't realise the impact you're going to have on people by doing this'. In my head, I was only thinking about fundraising. I wasn't thinking about the awareness aspect.

“It has been a good journey because, through this, we have learned more about the mental struggles that are out there at the moment. Some of these are just normal life difficulties that have been there all the time, but Covid-19 has ramped them all up to 10 and it just hasn't been talked about.

“Another of our goals has been to build on the momentum and all the great work clubs have already done on both the fundraising and volunteerism fronts.” 

On a potential return to games activity in 2020, Maguire cautions against a “forced decision” to satisfy a starved playing population.

“It has to be the right decision whenever we go back, it has to be safe.” 

 He’s less firm in his views on the decision to keep pitches shut despite the Government having green-lighted their reopening.

“If you live in Ballyclough, for example, you want to open the GAA pitch because you know the community isn’t that large. Whereas in a more populated city area, like Nemo or the Barr's, would you run the risk of having 1,000 people flock down to the pitch on a Saturday afternoon just because it is a green area? I don’t know.

“I would be one person who would air on the side of caution just down to the nature of what has happened so far.” 

You can donate to the Cork senior football panel's fundraiser for Pieta House at: gofundme.com/corkclubtogether4pieta.