Mark Landers

Mark Landers

Personal information
Irish name	Marc de Londras
Sport	Hurling
Position	Midfield
Born	1972 (age 43–44) Cork, Ireland
Club(s)
Years	Club
	Killeagh
Club titles
Cork titles	2
Inter-county(ies)
Years	County	Apps (scores)
1998-2003	Cork	8 (0-5)
Inter-county titles
Munster titles	1
All-Irelands	1
NHL	1
All Stars	0

Mark Landers (born 1972) is an Irish retired hurler who played as a midfielder for the Cork senior team.^[1] He is currently a coach with the Cork senior hurlers.

Landers made his first appearance for the team during the 1998 championship and was a regular member of the starting fifteen until his retirement due to injury prior to the start of the 2003 National League. During that time he won one All-Ireland medal, one Munster medal and one National Hurling League medal. Landers captained Cork to the All-Ireland title in 1999.

At club level Landers is a two-time county club championship medalist with divisional side Imokilly, while he also enjoyed a lengthy career with Killeagh.

Playing career

Club

Landers played his club hurling with Killeagh while he also enjoyed a successful spell with divisional side Imokilly.

In 1995 he won a junior championship medal following Killeagh's 3-9 to 0-8 defeat of Ballinhassig.^[2]

The following year Landers was part of the Imokilly team that was defeated by Avondhu in a replay of the senior championship decider.

He remained on the team as Imokilly reached the decider once again in 1997. A 1-18 to 2-12 defeat of Sarsfield's gave Landers a coveted senior championship medal.

Imokilly qualified for a third successive championship decider in 1998 with club kingpins Blackrock providing the opposition. A 1-10 to 1-5 victory gave Landers a second senior championship medal.

Inter-county

Landers first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Cork minor hurling team in 1990. He made his debut in that grade against Kerry before later lining out in the provincial decider against Clare. A 1-9 to 0-9 victory gave Landers a Munster medal. The subsequent All-Ireland decider pitted Cork against Kilkenny. Trailing by ten points at half-time Cork staged a remarkable comeback to draw the game 3-14 apiece. The replay four weeks later saw Landers' side hampered as Brian Corcoran had to withdraw due to injury. Cork were outclassed on that occasion and faced a 3-16 to 0-11 trouncing.

Two years later in 1992 Landers joined the Cork senior hurling team, however, he suffered a cruciate ligament injury a month before the opening of the championship and his inter-county career was halted.

Landers joined the Cork junior hurling team in 1995, however, Cork were defeated by Clare in their opening championship.

The following year Landers was still a member of the Cork junior team, however, he was dropped from the starting fifteen. He was introduced as a substitute in the provincial decider and collected a Munster medal following a 2-15 to 2-10 defeat of Tipperary.

In 1997 Cork fielded a team in the intermediate championship for the first time in over twenty-five years and Landers was included at centre-back. He later lost his place on the starting fifteen but won a Munster medal when he came on as a sub for Cork's 1-15 to 1-12 defeat of Limerick. He regained his place on the starting fifteen for the All-Ireland decider against Galway. A 2-11 to 1-12 victory gave Landers a coveted All-Ireland medal.

Success in this grade resulted in Landers joining the Cork senior for the successful National League campaign in 1998. A comprehensive 2-14 to 0-13 defeat of Waterford gave him a coveted National Hurling League medal. Landers later made his championship debut in a Munster quarter-final defeat of Limerick.

In 1999 Landers was named captain of the team as Cork reached their first provincial decider in seven years. Clare, the team that had won three of the last four provincial titles, together with two All-Ireland titles, provided the opposition and were very much the favourites going into the game. An exciting contest unfolded with Joe Deane scoring a key goal after an excellent pass from Seánie McGrath. A score line of 1-15 to 0-14 gave Cork the victory and gave Landers a Munster medal. Cork later defeated Offaly in one of the games of the year to set up an All-Ireland final meeting with arch-rivals Kilkenny. A wet and windy day meant that the classic game that everyone expected failed to materialise. Both sides shot seventeen wides over the course of the seventy minutes as a young and inexperienced Cork came back from five points down to win by 0-13 to 0-12. Not only did Landers collected a coveted All-Ireland medal but he also had the honour of lifting the Liam MacCarthy Cup.^[3]

Over the next few years Landers found it difficult to secure a permanent place on the starting fifteen as a result of injuries, managerial changes and a players' strike.

Landers lined out in the pre-season Waterford Crystal Cup in 2003 but was later dropped from the panel, effectively ending his inter-county career.

Coaching

In November 2014, Landers was confirmed as the new coach of the Cork senior hurling squad, replacing Kieran Kingston, who recently had stepped down.^[4]

Honours

Team

Killeagh

• Cork Junior Hurling Championship (1): 1995

Imokilly

• Cork Senior Hurling Championship (2): 1997, 1998

Cork

• All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship (1): 1999 (c)
• Munster Senior Hurling Championship (1): 1999 (c)
• National Hurling League (1): 1998

References