Deane of the bloodlines.

June 29th 2003.

A SMALL insight into Joe Deane's, hmm, easy-going nature. You're related to Seánie O'Leary? "Yeah." What relation exactly? "No idea." No idea? "No." But you're aware of it? "I'm aware of it." He notes your puzzled expression. "I've honestly no idea. My mother told me before but I took no notice."

So you mention his great grandfather, Tom Mahony from Killeagh, who won an All-Ireland medal with Dungourney in 1902. You know much about him, Joe? "Nah."

Nah? "Afraid not, there's a picture of him at home somewhere."

WHEN the chairman of the Cork players' group emerged at a press conference last November to announce strike action his identity caused some surprise. If Joe Deane held grievances in his seven years as a Cork senior hurler they were privately nursed. That was his way.

Bright and unassuming, fond of the quiet life, Deane's elevation to the frontline proved a tactical masterstroke. In the propaganda war it earned the players a massive coup; no one could accuse their chairman of being a greedy firebrand.

To the watching public, Deane gave the movement its final stamp of credibility. To the county board, treading uncomfortably in new waters, Deane's arrival at the negotiation table melted the ice. He seemed moderate and reasonable even if the issues remained unchanged.

When the dust had settled and the two parties reached a compromise, board sources praised Deane's impeccable handling of the talks. Articulated by Deane, the players' demands sounded more palatable. He glued the two sides together.

"We needed a man for all seasons who could relate to every sector and Joe fitted the bill," said one member of the players' group. Deane took the best part of a week to agree to become chairman but once he was in place he proved formidable.

Letters zipped back and forth between him and the county secretary Frank Murphy. More often than not the exchanges were robust. But Deane took them in his stride. "He was one of the few guys not intimidated by Frank Murphy," says a close associate.

Now, he's relieved that matters are settled. What was the experience like? "Great," he says. "It was something we weren't involved in before. We were really prepared." They even had a solicitor on board to ensure everything went by the book.

"Their solicitor told them not to attend any meeting without a shirt and tie although some of the lads didn't want that," says one source. "In other words, if they were going to war they would do so in the proper attire."

Deane wasn't the only one asked to chair the group but he believed it was time he made a stand. "I felt I was as part of it as anyone else and felt as strongly about the issues as anyone else.

"At the time it was very difficult. We felt it was something we had to do. Since then it hasn't really been brought up."

But it gnawed away at the back of their minds nonetheless. A poor championship would leave them exposed to all kinds of sniping remarks. Nearing the Clare game they remembered what they had gone through. And why.

"In some players' minds it probably was an issue," Deane admits. And in yours? "It was, yeah. It would always have been thrown back in our faces if things had not gone well. You just want to prove that what happened was justified and we always said that if all that stuff was looked after we'd be seriously competitive."

WHEN Donal O'Grady took over as manager one of his first duties was to meet Deane and be satisfied that the issues of 2002 had been laid to rest. O'Grady considered the matter history and expected no further mention of the affair. That suited all sides. The new season came as a relief to players who had grown tired of being splashed across newspapers last winter.

On the first night at training three players turned up two minutes late and O'Grady threatened to send them home. He would be calling the shots from now on and they were happy to grant him full licence. From the outset he took the grip of a teacher whose greatest dread is a disruptive class.

Another night the players were sprinting with the ball when O'Grady ordered Alan Browne to move on to a higher gear. Browne, an old hand and team captain, joked that he had no pace. Unamused, O'Grady made each player do 10 press-ups.

"There's probably a greater level of discipline there," says Deane. "He's very thorough, everything he does is ultra-organised. He's a perfectionist really; he wants to get everything right.

"He's prepared for everything, nothing slips him by, he goes through all the games, gives players good advice. And he really coaxes the players, tells them where they're going wrong, where they could improve, which might have been lacking previously."

O'Grady's job was made easier by the players' own desire to resurrect their fortunes which had been in steady decline since the Offaly defeat in 2000. Deane's lowest ebb came against Galway in last year's qualifiers.

In the second half their challenge petered out and they exited the championship. "It was the way we were beaten, we just lay down and it looked like players didn't care. I thought at half-time we could win the game. I felt very disullusioned. Totally fed up. That shouldn't happen. And no reason for it, we were in a great position at half-time.

"We stopped fighting. Looking back on the game it looked like fellas didn't want to be there. Every fella playing next Sunday definitely wants to be there."

IT is six days to Joe Deane's third Munster senior final. He is seated comfortably in his chair, legs crossed, bearing a face that carries the random signature nicks of battle. Last year's troubles are behind him, the heated meetings that took place in this same hotel.

All they wanted was a fair deal. "Self-belief was always there if we sorted ourselves out and concentrated on hurling and did everything right," he says. "Before the Clare game we'd lost the feeling of success and the great buzz you get after winning a Munster championship game.

"That was our main motivation going into the game; we wanted to get that (feeling) back. And prove that we could be serious contenders for a Munster championship and an All-Ireland.

"It was an important game for us, to show that Cork can get back to that level again. Like, there was a pride in our hurling; that probably had been lacking in the last few years. We probably let ourselves down in those championship games.

"But that great sense of satisfaction counts for nothing if we don't beat Waterford. We need to win some silverware."

His own form going into the match fell short of what he'd made us expect. But, unlike last year, he was unhindered by injuries and he has never been short on confidence. They hit Clare like a hurricane blast, blowing them away through sheer force of will. Yet there was room for some artistic expression. Deane's goal, struck first-time on the volley, provided it.

"The goal he scored against Clare lifted a huge weight off his shoulders," says Tommy Seward, Deane's old mentor at Killeagh. In one sublime flick of the wrists indifferent form and last year's strife were extinguished.

"Beating Clare was one of the most enjoyable days I've had in a Cork jersey," Deane admits. "It was a great feeling, winning a championship game, especially in Thurles - there's no place like it.

"Days like that are the reason I play the game. I don't enjoy the build-up and I wouldn't be one of those guys bursting to talk about hurling, but I really enjoy playing the games, especially championship games."

THEY spotted Joe Deane's talent in Killeagh when he was seven, playing on the U-10 team, a tiny kid doing tricks with the ball. The pitch was near his house and as he grew up he took turns lining it and doing the scoreboard.

He put the place on the map because until 1995 they were a junior club with few stars. That year he won an All-Ireland minor title under Jimmy Barry Murphy and began to attract notice. Within a year he was on the senior team.

"Even as a very small boy he'd be glued to matches," says Seward, who drove him to most of them. "He was a great student of the game, if that is not too complicated a word for a young lad."

On an early visit to Croke Park the late 'Danno' Kennedy, one of Killeagh's stalwarts, told Deane he was being taken there not to see the place, but to "get used to it." It's an old story but they expected great things of him from an early stage.

There are several tales of outlandish feats for Killeagh down the years. They reached senior ranks in 2001 which wouldn't have been accomplished without Deane's frequent match-winning intercessions.

"His first touch was phenomenal and ability to turn and strike fast in tight areas," says Mark Landers of Deane when he was 15 and they won the U-16 county title. Landers, just 20 himself, was in charge. "What really struck me was that you really saw him when the team was under pressure. When we were losing we saw the best of Joe."

Landers recalls a goal Deane scored in Youghal against Aghada and the huge leap off the ground which earned him possession. "I just remember him hanging there, suspended in mid-air for a while," he says. For a small man Deane wins a large volume of high ball due to a wonderful spring and first-rate co-ordination and reflexes.

He's brave too. In the same match they needed a goal to level. Two opponents and Deane were racing for the same ball and he knew where the journey would end. They sandwiched him but he managed to flick it to a colleague who goaled. The challenge left him semi-concussed.

But his reputation as a special talent is based primarily on sublime acts of skill. The recent goal against Clare roused memories of an even better one scored against Castlelyons in the intermediate final five years ago.

"Joe was between the 14 and 21 yard lines, 10 yards to the side of the posts, and the ball came in chest high and he doubled on it first time," says Landers. The full-back had stolen a yard on him as the ball came in but he slipped around him just before executing the shot.

John Fenton was in the commentary box and locals remember him becoming highly animated - not something for which he is renowned. Comparisons were made with Jimmy Barry Murphy's goal against Galway in 1983 when he doubled on a ball from Fenton and landed it in the top corner.

In an U-21 county final against Castlelyons in 1996 Deane scored 3-12 out of Killeagh's 4-14 total. He once scored four goals and earned the name 'four-goal Joe' and soon opposing teams were putting two men on him - or 'twin-tagging' to use the local expression.

But his form has dipped for Killeagh in this year's championship. He failed to score from play against St Finbarr's in the first round, which they lost by three points, and a fortnight ago they went out of the competition to UCC. Again, Deane didn't score from play. "We said it would never happen twice," says one clubman, "but it did."

To become a better player he will need to score more goals but like every GAA player his prospects are predicated on how long Cork can maintain interest in the championship. His ratio is roughly one to every three games.

At the end of the year he turns 26. How much better can he become? "Potentially, there is no doubt about him," says one of his team-mates, predicting the very top. "I think Carey is ahead of everyone, he's incredible. But Joe has got great scores."

DEANE is contemplating today's Munster final and what fate may bring. If they win how he plays won't matter so much. And the best marker he's ever faced is, mercifully, on the Cork team: Wayne Sherlock. "Oh without a doubt, no one comes close to him. He has hurling, strength, a great mentality, speed."

After months preparing for Clare they've been transformed into title favourites in the space of a few weeks. "All of a sudden we have gone from no-hopers to nearly beating Kilkenny in an All-Ireland final. Everyone is talking about Cork going into this game."

Adding some spice is the Justin McCarthy factor. You'd like to put one over on Justin? "I think we want to put one over on Waterford, rather than Justin. Like, Waterford beat us last year, you've to remember that.

"We probably should have won it, but it was a poor game. Going into the Munster final (2002) you wouldn't have given Waterford a chance. That's the biggest motivating factor for us: they're Munster champions. We have to beat them to get where we want to; a Munster title was our main goal at the start of the year."

This could be the start of an exciting new phase. "I've been lucky in hurling, won minor, U-21 and senior All-Irelands, all relatively early in my career. But I'd hate to look back in 10 years time and say 'Jesus, we never won another.'

"That's why fellas play the game. There's lads say they play for the enjoyment but at the end of the day it's about winning. It's the whole buzz of winning a championship game."

It's in the bloodlines.