The Cork footballers' season came to a disappointing conclusion at Croke Park last Saturday but Eoin Cadogan says there are plenty of positives they can take into next year.
The Rebels hung onto Dublin's coattails during the first half of their All-Ireland quarter-final but were outscored by 0-11 to 0-03 in the second period as Dessie Farrell’s side shifted up a gear.
Cork interim manager John Cleary admitted there was a large gulf between the teams when it came to fitness levels.
Cadogan, however, says the positives far outweigh the negatives and believes the experience of playing against Dublin at Croke Park, coupled with the return of key players from injury, can help them close the gap to the leading teams.
"For the group themselves, they’ve made progress this year, absolutely," Cadogan told RTÉ Sport.
"Taking into account the amount of injuries Cork have had, the young talent that is there but couldn’t be a part of it due to injury. Once they get all those guys back...
"Fitness is another easy one to throw out there but it takes time to build that tank of fitness that gets you through those games.
"What Dublin had for years was the ability to break you from 50 to 70 minutes because they had it in the tank. They broke your minds through hard running, forcing you to make decisions, and then a massive, manic work ethic from their forwards back.
"It’s the same with Limerick’s hurlers, you can see their conditioning capability was very evident in the Munster final. You’ll see again with Clare and Cork next year, they’ll build on that fitness. It’s about getting up to the pitch of the game.
"Hugely disappointing but a lot more positives compared to the last few years."
Colm Cooper, with whom Cadogan enjoyed some great tussles during their playing days, said Cork should put faith in talented youngsters such as Seán Meehan, Cathail O’Mahony and Mattie Taylor as they look to move to the next level.
Cadogan agrees but he also sounded a word of caution, highlighting that Cork’s 2010 All-Ireland success was the product of many years of hard work.
"It takes time," he said. "Look at that core group who won the All-Ireland with Cork. A lot of them were knocking around since 2004 – Noel O’Leary, Paudie Kissane, Graham Canty, Alan Quirke, Anthony Lynch, Nicholas Murphy.
"If you can get over the line at all in some capacity, that builds confidence. And confidence allows you then to express yourself more.
"When Cork – in either code – are expressing themselves, anything can happen."
While Cadogan was willing his former team-mates on against Dublin, he was also paying particular attention to a member of the opposition - Dublin hurling captain Eoghan O'Donnell, who was sprung from the bench late on for his senior football debut.
Cadogan has experience when it comes to crossing codes in the middle of a championship campaign and while he understands there can be a degree of apprehension about such a switch, he never had any regrets and said it didn’t generate any ill-feeling within the panel.
"In the back of your mind there is a slight element of, is this going to upset the pie, in terms of the guys who have been training since November.
"But I always wrote down the pros and cons before returning and I would take fierce confidence in the fact the current manager had faith in me as an individual, that I could contribute something positively. If they didn’t, I wouldn’t have been asked.
"Dublin and Dessie Farrell will be happy. They'll have had one eye on the semi-final and wouldn’t want to have shown too many of their cards."
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 26, 2022
Seán Cavanagh said the first half of Dublin's win over Cork resembled an exhibition game. #SundayGame #RTEGAA pic.twitter.com/GEf3mO8Pf8
"Once you get up to pace with things, and you buy in wholeheartedly, keep your mouth schtum and get on with the hard work expected, you get huge kudos from your team-mates that you’re being genuine and you want to achieve success.
"All that group, with the leaders that Cork had from 2008 to 2012 like Canty, Murphy, Anthony Lynch, Derek Kavanagh, I have no doubt they were contacted and asked for their opinions by the management, who respected them so much. That was always a nice thing to have, that those guys felt you contributed.
"I was delighted to see Eoghan come on the other day. I was actually excited to see what he did. He actually got up to the ’21 and I was hoping he would kick it. It would have been like, 'I’m here lads’.
"Again with Dessie’s squad, he’s going to positively impact. He’s physical, strong and has pace. There was a ball that came in early and he broke it away nicely. For a first day out, happy days."
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