GAA star ‘won't judge Taoiseach dad's performance if he doesn't scrutinize me' as relationship ‘wouldn't work otherwise'

The Irish Sun

23-05-2025

INSTEAD of emulating his father by pursuing a career in politics, helping Cork to secure a seat on Gaelic football's front bench is at the top of Micheál Aodh Martin's manifesto for now.
With his son serving as his county's first-choice goalkeeper, the Taoiseach is often a keen observer from the stands when the Rebels are in action.
2
Mícheál Martin at SuperValu's launch of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh
Credit: INPHO/Dan Sheridan
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Cork goalkeeper Micheal Aodh Martin with his father An Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD
Credit: Matt Browne/Sportsfile
Yet owing to a gentleman's agreement that exists between the pair, appraisals are rarely offered.
Micheál Aodh explained: 'We probably have a mutual thing there. I won't scrutinise his performance if he doesn't scrutinise mine! We've probably both learned over the years that it doesn't
work
otherwise.'
A two-time Munster
Championship
winner with Nemo
Rangers
, Martin is well accustomed to having his father in attendance whether he is representing club or county.
However, rather than a propensity for being an overbearing parent, the
Cork
goalkeeper understands it is a passion for
the games
that draws him in.
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He said: 'He'd go to all the
Even the leader of the country might be finding it tricky these days to source a ticket to watch the Cork hurlers.
No such difficulties exist when it comes to getting through the turnstiles for games involving Rebels in the big-ball code.
For the third home game in a row, Cork are expected to play in front of more than 40,000 spectators when they take on
Waterford
in the Munster SHC at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday.
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For the footballers' most recent outing — the Munster SFC semi-final against
Kerry
— there was an attendance of 14,358 at the same venue.
The hurlers, who won the National League last month and reached the 2024 All-Ireland final, have always been the box-office attraction on Leeside.
Limerick GAA fans troll RTE pundit Donal Og Cusack after win over Cork
Martin said: 'Our aim and our hope is to be playing in big Championship games that Cork people want to go to and that we draw those crowds.
'But I've been involved with the Cork team since 2015 on and off and this is the way I've always known it.
'It is what it is. We have a small, loyal group of supporters that we care about a lot. There's a small group that will come up to
Fermanagh
and places and we really value them as well. So I'm not envious.
'It would be great — don't get me wrong — and I hope to get the chance to play in games where we do draw that support.
'But I don't look at it with envy or anything like that.'
HURLING STRONGHOLD
Particularly to the west of
the city
, there are sizeable hotbeds of
football
in Ireland's largest county.
Still, for the majority of its
That was starkly evidenced when the teams shared
the bill
for a pair of National League games in March.
The hurlers beat
But the majority headed for the exits before the footballers took to the field for their loss to
Football was responsible for Cork's most recent taste of All-Ireland success at senior level.
Sam Maguire headed south 15 years ago, whereas the Liam MacCarthy Cup has been absent since 2005.
And Martin, 30, knows that more significant Championship wins would persuade floating voters to row in behind the county's current crop of footballers.
But he added: 'There's a geographic divide in Cork as well in terms of the population.
'Sometimes people overestimate maybe what's available in terms of the fanbase. 'I have no doubt we would get great support if we managed to make it far in an All-Ireland series.
'But the
reality
is, and some of the lads from 2010 would tell you as well, even in their heyday, league games wouldn't have always been packed out even when they won multiple leagues and were in All-Ireland finals.
'To an extent, you just get on with it.
'You focus on yourself really. It doesn't get too much air time for us.'
SETTING THE STAGE
Another journey through the All-Ireland group stages begins for Cork in Navan tomorrow against Leinster runners-up Meath.
While few will lament the passing of the much-maligned format when it is axed at the end of the season, it has been the stage for the Rebels' most significant results of the past decade.
After stunning Mayo in 2023, they went on to eliminate Roscommon in the preliminary quarter-finals.
And last summer's thriller against
Donegal
handed Jim McGuinness the first defeat of his second coming as manager of the Ulster champions.
The task for John Cleary's side at Páirc Tailteann this weekend is to deliver a level of performance that proves their extra-time epic against Kerry five weeks ago was no fluke.
Cork were on course to take a big step closer to a first Munster title in 13 years until Joe O'Connor's thunderbolt of a goal sealed a 3-21 to 1-25 triumph for the Kingdom.
It was the third year in a row that only a kick of a ball has separated the
neighbours
in Championship football. And they will collide again in a Group 2 fixture tomorrow week.
But Martin rejects the suggestion that the recent provincial semi-final was as good a chance as this Cork team will ever have of conquering the old enemy again.
He insisted: 'That's not the way I'd look at it, no. We beat them in 2020 and subsequently didn't win a Munster Championship. The goal was to win a Munster Championship and Cork haven't won it for a long time. No member of our squad has a Munster medal so that was our goal going into it.
'We fell short and then you just move on and you have to get ready for the All-Ireland series. I don't see it as our chance being gone or anything like that.
'We've been close to them now for probably three years in a row. For us, it's about winning. We have no interest in getting close. We just have to move on now and hopefully have a good All-Ireland series.'
For Martin, who works in corporate finance with PwC, succeeding with Cork is a red-line issue. For the time being at least, no great consideration is being given to joining his father as a
running
mate in the political arena.
On the prospect of entering the
family
business
in the
future
, he said: 'Look, we're all interested in it. Whether I'd have an interest in taking on a role, because I can see what it entails, I haven't thought that far ahead.
'I just have an interest in him and the issues locally. But I'm definitely happy for now in the day job.
'I have an ambition with Cork. I really want Cork football to keep improving. That's my driver at the moment. I'd love to get back into big games.'
l MICHEÁL AODH MARTIN was speaking as SuperValu announced a five-year extension of its sponsorship of the All-Ireland SFC.