New Cork manager Brian Cuthbert has had a baptism of fire since he was appointed.

In the past few weeks, the Rebels have experienced an exodus of players with Alan O'Connor the latest to call time on his inter-county career.

That hands Cuthbert a tough task ahead of next season's National League and All Ireland Championship.

Cuthbert, who has a good working knowledge in the youth ranks of Cork GAA, was on Off The Ball tonight to talk about the challenge ahead.

"It gives a lot of young players the chance to get on board," he said. "Ciaran [Sheehan's departure] was one I wasn't expecting but it's a complete opportunity for everybody. The U21s have had a very good run over the last four or five years. There are very good players in Cork so it's just the case of bringing them along and giving them a chance."

Cuthbert accepted the decision of the players who decided to retire, seeing that the time had come for them.

"All of them broke into the Cork team around the same time. All are similar type characters and have been very successful in the history of Cork football. 2010 was a huge time in their lives and after the past three years, all of them had kind of decided that it had come to an end. With Conor [Counihan] stepping down, there was a new start to be made for them," said Cuthbert, who admitted that Alan O'Connor, who was originally in the winter training panel, would be hard to replace.

Off The Ball's Colm Parkinson was curious about the style of play that Cuthbert intends to use.

"The style of play depends on the players you have. If you look at those guys who retired, a lot of them were very big men and powerful athletes. We won't have that kind of power or size in the panel that we have now. We'd like to move the ball a bit quicker that suits the players that we have. A lot of that will be different to what you've seen before."

Listen to the full interview via the podcast or download on iTunes.

©INPHO/Morgan Treacy