Cork's failure to take silverware at underage level in recent years on the All-Ireland stage have been one of the driving factors for the Rebels in search of senior honours according to defender Stephen White.

The Rebels claimed a three-in-a-row of Munster minor successes between 2004 and 2006, with White featuring as a substitute in the latter decider, on a team captained by Patrick Horgan.

Under 21 provincial honours were also picked up in 2005 and 2007 by Cork, with White again getting some game-time as a substitute in the 2007 win over Waterford.

Cork however, failed to turn provincial success into national honours and the 24-year old Ballygarvan clubman says this is spurring them on to greater things.

"We know the direction that we want to go and we've known it all year that we wanted to be in an All-Ireland Final in September," he told hoganstand.com.

"A lot of this panel has had underage success. I've a Munster Minor medal, I've a Munster under 21 medal, and we've been very unlucky in All-Ireland semi-finals against Galway, who have pipped us a couple of times.

"There has been a lot written about Cork's lack of underage success, but there hasn't been much written about how close we have been and how competitively we have competed. I think that can get overwritten sometimes, but we have dealt with big games and we will continue to deal with big games. I think the whole panels feet are firmly on the ground and focussed on the job at hand."

Horgan, Shane O'Neill and Cathal Naughton are just some of the players that White has soldiered alongside through the underage ranks, with Anthony Nash also around from the 2005 Munster Under 21 winning side.

White has paid credit to Jimmy Barry Murphy for knitting together all of these players on the Senior stage.

"A lot of this team I would have played with at underage. We all want to get to senior level, and a lot of us have been very lucky to get to senior level. I suppose that bit of success that we enjoy at provincial level, you want to continue that on at the highest level, which is Senior inter-county hurling for us.

"Every manager has his own style and Jimmy has knitted this team together excellently. That's credit down to the management and to the panel alike, that we have been able to gel and play such good hurling this year. I think a lot of the credit is down to Jimmy for building that panel."

It's White's sixth year playing senior hurling for Cork, coming into the panel during his first year in college, where he won a Freshers All-Ireland Hurling title with Cork IT, against UL at Newtownshandrum alongside fellow Cork Senior Stephen McDonnell, on the half-back line.

White credits the good work being done at colleges level, which has been the nucleus of spurring a lot of both Cork and Clare's success on the inter-county stage.

"I won a Fresher All-Ireland medal with CIT and a lot of the fellas on this panel have won All-Ireland medals with UCC and CIT respectively and on to Fitzgibbon Cup where you go up another notch in terms of standards and stuff.

"Myself with CIT, we lost a Fitzgibbon All-Ireland Final. While you learn a lot from that, you are still playing at a very high standard. You want to bring that standard up to senior inter-county level. Fitzgibbon hurling is only a small bit off Senior inter-county, so it's all about progression. I think CIT and UCC have had a huge amount to play to bring players up to that level."

At CIT, GAA Development Officer Keith Ricken has been one of those key to the development of White and others as players.

"Putting the Development Officers in place in colleges has had huge benefit. For me personally I've had a huge benefit personally. Keith Ricken in CIT has had a huge benefit for me, getting onto CIT teams and getting exposure to high quality games has been huge for me."

There's a strong link between CIT and the Cork setup, with the Cork Senior Hurlers training at the fine facilities the Bishopstown college has to offer in the early part of the year.

"We trained there up until May, where we then come to Páirc Uí Rinn or Páirc Uí Chaoimh. The facilities in Cork Institute of Technology are second to none, several pitches all floodlit and it is a quality training facility for us," White said.

White now works for EMC, who sponsor CIT GAA Club; as an Associate Maintenance Contract Operations Analyst - it certainly makes life easier for travelling to training, when he is based on the outskirts of the city in Ballincollig.

"There's been a lot written about GAA players and work and stuff. I was delighted to get a job with EMC. They have been very accommodating for me. It's a short drive to training and a short drive home, so I've been very lucky."

A solid club structure also provides the foundations of a good county side, with White fortunate to pick up a Munster Junior club hurling medal in 2004 as a teenager, after his club Ballygarvan beat Tramore by 0-16 to 1-5 in the decider.

White is delighted that the structure of club competitions in Cork, with divisional sides also afforded him the platform to show his wares at senior level.

"I think the structure that Cork has is brilliant, because no matter what level club you play with in Cork you get the chance to play Senior hurling with a team. That drives on a player - he could be playing Junior A with his own club, and it just goes to show in the current Cork panel.

"You have the likes of William Egan and Tom Kenny playing with Junior clubs. I think everyone in Cork has the chance to show what they have on offer to reach the level of Senior inter-county level."

Looking ahead to this weekend's clash, Cork accounted for Clare on their first outing this Summer at the Munster semi-final stage, while the Banner County had the upper hand over the Rebels.

White says those games will matter little this Sunday at Croke Park.

"We beat Clare in the first round of the Championship this year, the previous games towards that we have put them in the back of our minds. Since then we have just drove on.

"An All-Ireland final takes on a lifegn of its own. The All-Ireland final is going to be a once-off game. It's 50-50. I think you can throw the form book out the window, especially with the way the Championship has gone all Summer. The form book has been thrown out the window. Our previous clashes with Clare this year will probably go out the window, and it's going to be a 50-50 game." Tweet

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