When Niall O'Leary comes off the field, it’s not the Sunday Game analysis that concerns him. It’s the Monday morning grilling from his students.
A history and PE teacher at the hurling-mad St Colman’s College in Fermoy, the corner-back gets frank performance reviews from class after class of schoolkids picking apart the weekend’s action.
In that context, it’s no wonder O’Leary places "huge emphasis" on every piece of silverware that’s going. He waited long enough from his senior debut in 2019 before pocketing that breakthrough league medal last year.
The subsequent Munster title won at a packed-out Gaelic Grounds further eased the pressure on this group to start translating performances into trophies.
"There was a lot of us on that panel that hadn't won anything with Cork," the 27-year-old reflects. "To win a Munster Championship with Cork was huge for a lot of us and probably relieved a small bit of pressure in one sense, that it was something won there now.
"We were very disappointed with how we got on against them in the round-robin. To overturn that in the final was huge for us.
"It's definitely a confidence booster that you can come up against a Limerick team that's at the peak of their powers, stay with them for that long of a period, and just get over the line."
That makes Sunday’s league final against the Treaty all the more important.
"When you're playing at this level, any bit of silverware is huge," O’Leary adds. "In Cork in recent years, we haven't had huge success at winning silverware, so we put huge emphasis on it.
"It's a great game to get two weeks before championship as well. With the crowd that's going to be down there on Sunday, it's huge."
O’Leary refers to the period after the All-Ireland final defeat to Tipperary as a grieving process. It was one that was kept suitably brief.
"We're well over it at this stage. The way the campaign goes, you're finished, you lose an All-Ireland final, you're playing championship with your club two weeks later. That grieving period filters out very fast.
"The lads in the club know that as well. They don't be long bringing you back to normal and getting you going again.
"Look, it was a tough one to take. For anyone, to lose back-to-back All-Ireland finals is tough, but we've taken huge learnings from it. We've had great help with a new psychologist, Gerry Hussey, this year as well. He's done great work with us, so fellas have moved on big time."
The corner-back role has changed across O’Leary’s hurling career. With one inside forward usually withdrawn, the Castlelyons clubman commonly takes the role of tagging the roaming corner-forward. But he doesn’t mind being penned back on the edge of the square either.
"Myself and Seán (O’Donoghue) would be half messing and joking at times that 'You're going out now again. You’ve the handy one today.’ But no, it is a nicer role. You're not as stuck inside. You can have a bit of freedom out there, getting on the ball a bit more. I do love a competitive battle inside at times too, though.
"Hurling wasn't a big part of playing corner-back, but definitely in this day and age, you have to be a really skilful hurler to play there. It's a great position. You have to be a competitive individual to play in there on your own. Some people hate it, some people love it, I suppose."
O’Leary acknowledges the rush for tickets is a struggle for fans, although he walls himself off from such requests.
He remembers being one of them as a seven-year-old when the Liam MacCarthy Cup was last paraded through his village. The place was "flooded with people" and the idea of replicating those memories is a potent motivation.
"I can still remember the bus stopping in Castlelyons with Timmy McCarthy, The Rock, and Seán Óg getting off with the trophy. It's definitely something I'd love to do in my career to come back to Castlelyons with it after seeing Timmy do it. I don't look into it too much, but it definitely gives me inspiration."
The Easter holidays mean O’Leary won’t get his usual feedback this Monday, but no doubt he’ll get the debrief before too long.
"It puts a small bit of pressure on yourself going out for a game. You’ve to go to school on a Monday to make sure that these fellas can say, ‘Jeez, you played well at the weekend, sir.’"
Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast on the RTÉ Radio Player, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
