Re-energised Rory Maguire targetting back-to-back Cork senior football medals

The conversation, in part, has had its volume turned up by what’s happening in Kerry. In an attempt to mentally and physically recharge before inter-county preparations for 2025 throw-in, a cohort of Kerry footballers won’t be lining out for their club in the respective end-of-year district championships.

The Kerry executive stressed at a recent county board meeting that this player unavailability is not a decree from Jack O’Connor, rather a request from the players themselves.

Here’s what one of those players, Paul Geaney, had to say on the matter last week.

“I know everybody likes to chirp in with what they think a fella needs, but that’s down to every individual and I think fellas should be allowed to step back if they need to step back and not be put under pressure to be togging out in December or November to play another game.”

Geaney’s Kerry teammate and county final opponent Gavin White took the burn-out conversation beyond just participation in their winter district championships.

“There is a certain period throughout the year where, not that it’s draining, it’s just mental fatigue. Inter-county players have standards for themselves.

"They want to reach the highest level in every game and sometimes that isn't possible because of fatigue, and you are frustrated with yourself then when you are not playing particularly well,” White told this writer last week.

“We are all amateur players. We all have to go to work in the morning. Just the players we are, we demand so much of ourselves that sometimes a break is truly deserved.”

Rory Maguire was the first person we spoke to at Castlehaven’s Cork football final press evening. We had not intended for the conversation to centre on burn-out and player welfare.

Rory, the same as those quoted above, couldn’t stress enough that it is not the physical demands of the inter-county game that get on top of players. He too stressed the mental switch off required.

Castlehaven fell to St Brigid’s in the All-Ireland club semi-final on January 7. The end to a season, between Cork and club, that ran for over 13 months.

Maguire knows that was the time to step off and decompress. Instead, he went back in with Cork almost as soon as Castlehaven duties were no more. He suffered for it.

“It was my own decision, but I probably should have left it off another couple of weeks, just for myself, because that Brigid's loss was such a blow,” he began.

“That time of year, it was January, it was dark, and there wasn't a whole pile going on, so you feel kind of obliged to come back in with Cork. It was my own choice, but it wasn't a great one.

“I didn't have a great League campaign for Cork. Got injured against Kildare, so it probably would have been a better thing for me to step away for a month.”

Fast forward to June. Cork fell to Louth in the preliminary All-Ireland quarter-final. Maguire’s next move was to down all football-related tools for three weeks. It was the longest break he’d given himself in around four years. A break so badly needed.

“It is more important mentally than physically,” Maguire said of time away.

“Physically, unless you are carrying something, you'll probably recover away and be able to play through, whereas mentally it takes a lot to stop playing with one team and play with another straightaway.

“From that side of things, you need a break for your head and to be able to switch off and just relax, that is the most important thing. Your body will recover in a couple of days, but your mind, especially after a tough loss, will take a couple of weeks to be ready to go again. And if you are not fully mentally tuned in, that is one place you will get injured.”

Maguire returned with a fresh mindset and a reawoken hunger. He and the Haven hurtled through the championship thereafter.

Twelve months ago, the Castlehaven No.6 wasn’t in possession of a Cork senior medal. Now the 25-year-old stands an hour from emulating the back-to-back heroes he grew up idolising.

“It was a long time coming for a lot of this group,” he said of last year’s 0-11 to 0-9 debut final win over Sunday's opponents.

“We were 12 or 13 back when we won two in-a-row (2012-13). That is all we really wanted to do back then; play for Castlehaven and win county titles. We've managed to match one of them anyway, so we'll have a chance to match another on Sunday.

“It is the way things are done down here that you are kinda expected to win and when we hadn't for a while, it kind of puts doubt in people's heads and wondering are we good enough to win this. Then when we got over the line last year, it gave a lot of fellas confidence to bring it on into the future.”