Ray O'Mahony has 'no regrets' over his Cork U20 football tenure

Former Cork U20 football manager Ray O’Mahony has no regrets from his two-year tenure in charge of the team.

The Éire Óg clubman’s reign at the helm came to an end following a second successive heavy Munster final loss to Kerry under his watch at the end of April.

O’Mahony’s replacement is set to be his fellow club colleague in Kerry native Ray Keane, who is now living in Ovens.

“Look, we’re obviously disappointed we didn’t put a bit of a stamp on things when we got to the Munster final stage,” O’Mahony said to The Echo on Friday afternoon.

“We didn’t win a trophy at the end of the day. However, you know, as a management team, we left no stone unturned. We gave everything 120 per cent and everything within our control, we worked with it.

Cork’s Seán O'Leary and Eddie Healy of Kerry in action this year. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie

“People need to understand as well that the U20 series is a really, really tight window from essentially, you’re looking at club games in the summertime, assessing the players and then you come to November, December time, obviously the second and third level competition’s are on and you’re having a wide panel of maybe 40-odd players that you think you can work with.

“We are obviously second out of the traps in Munster because the Phase 1 section has to start, which maybe needs to be revisited again because I feel Cork and Kerry across the country, are probably the most disadvantaged two teams because they’re last out of the traps.

“I had very good quality people with me. Our role was basically to develop footballers for Cork. I came in the door in September 2023, so you’ve missed a lot of the club championship matches. You’re trying to assemble your backroom team and management team. But we were disappointed with the results and obviously there was no silverware. We feel as a management, we left no stone unturned and we’ve no regrets with what was within our control.”

The Cork team dejected after their Munster U20 football final loss to Kerry back in April. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie

The club U21 football championships on Leeside over the last couple of years have taken place over three weekends in February. O’Mahony admits that hampered his side’s preparations and urges the Cork County Board to find a proper window for it.

“Why we have to run the club U21 football in February, I still can’t get my head around it,” the Dublin native says.

“I understand the importance of U21. I was with Éire Óg when we won a couple of Mid-Cork titles at U21 level on a team that featured Colm O’Callaghan and John Cooper. It has been mistreated, and that has been publicly said previously, and I know a lot of clubs wanted it back. They got it back, but it seemed to be very piecemeal together.

“February was three weekends where we could not have challenge games against other counties, essentially. So Cork, I’ll put on record, were the only county running U21 club championships between January and April and I’ve researched that.

“You’re not getting the opportunity to play any of the northern teams in February, or even the Connacht teams, because there’s club championship. I raised it several times with the county board and I was getting nowhere with it. So we had two choices, take it on the chin, or walk away. And we took it on the chin.

Dara Sheedy in action for the Cork U20 footballers this year. Picture: Jim Coughlan

“There’s seven days in the week, there’s definitely a window. Most other counties do go, and like Cork did previously, September, October and November, but there is definitely a window.

“The key stakeholders here need to sit down, leave egos behind them, and it needs to get into the master plan. It needs to go into the master plan because it’s a key ingredient for player development.”

A lack of a training base isn’t a new issue for Cork teams in both codes. O’Mahony though feels it’s a problem that needs to be addressed quickly.

“Cork is probably one of the most complex counties to run, from a GAA perspective, both geographically and the number of clubs that are there. The next big ticket item for me that the county board needs to get is a centre of excellence.

“I had the privilege of being up in Offaly and Meath, unbelievable set-ups. There’s no silver bullet to this.

“It’s important for a traditional county like Cork to have their own training base. That’s the next big ticket item that needs to be looked at. The stadium is one of the best in Europe.

“I do think Cork football is going in the right direction. John Cleary has done a great job with the Cork senior team and are in a better place since John went in there.

Cork senior football manager John Cleary. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

“Maybe previously we might have been behind strength and conditioning wise, but I think that has been addressed now. We’ve got people involved there in the strength and conditioning side of it, under the guidance of Aidan O’Connell. People need to understand that there’s no quick fix to this.

“There’s more coaching workshops going on for people. You can bring the horse to the water, but you can’t make them drink it. So I would really encourage people to embrace all that type of development that’s there when it becomes available.”

O’Mahony thanked his management team for the last couple of seasons as they go their separate ways.

“Thanks to Mick O’Brien, head coach, Eamon O’Connor, James Condon, Morgan O’Sullivan, Dan Cronin, who was involved with us in 2024, the goalkeeping coaches of Pat Prendergast and Declan Murphy. Special thanks to David O’Sullivan and Bryan McCarthy, who led the planning and logistics and kept the set-up on the road. Always two steps ahead.

Bryan Hayes on the move for the Cork U20 footballers this season. Picture: Eamon Ward

“The backroom personnel from the stats of Colm O’Sullivan and James Harding, the medical staff of John O’Sullivan and Eoghan Deasy, the strength and conditioning team of James McGlade and James Crowley and also Jennifer Hayes, who did a small bit of psychology with the team as well.

“These people basically put their lives on hold to try and help develop and push forward Cork football. All the players who gave up a lot of their time, travelled from the four corners of the county, thanks so much to them. To Niall Twomey and Aidan O’Connell, thanks for everything, everything we looked for, we generally got.

“A lot of people gave their heart and soul to this for two years and that needs to be acknowledged.”

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