Con-less Dubs do just enough to snatch Cork's 'mixed bag'
All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final: Dublin 1-19 (1-1-18) Cork 1-16 (1-0-16)
Twelve months ago, John Cleary stood outside Cork's dressing room in Inniskeen and spoke of inter-county management being 'tough going'.
Louth had been sent out of the championship by a solitary point and he was using the same line on Saturday, with the difference again just a score.
Only this time, Cork had dictated a lot of the terms. In Monaghan, they had to mirror a lot of Louth's rearguard action. Here, they dictated a lot of the engagement, had lashings of possession, and showed the type of endeavour people have been crying out for them to show.
Read More
John Cleary stays tight-lipped on future as Cork manager
Who knows what might have happened had Seán McDonnell's two-point free effort not dropped into Stephen Cluxton's hands in the dying minutes. Had it gone over, Cork would have tied up the game and the press they would have put on Dublin's kick-out may have yielded another opportunity.
Instead, the remaining score of the game came from Dublin substitute Luke Breathnach and Dublin came out the right side of a close-run thing for the second time in the space of two weeks after foiling Derry.
Does it diminish Cork's valiance that Dublin chose not to bring on their leader Con O'Callaghan to see out the win? In one way, yes. In another way, no. Dessie Farrell ultimately had enough faith in his other charges to complete the job.
Cork manager John Cleary after his side's defeat. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
'We sort of run the gauntlet on it a little bit for the last 10 minutes or so. Thankfully, that decision worked out, and we gave him an extra seven days to recover, and he should be good for the next day.'
He continued: 'That was the plan. It's not to say that we knew this wouldn't be a tight affair, but we were just going to hope that we had enough. There were conversations with the coaches with a couple of minutes to go. We just decided to hold on. If it was a little bit tighter, I think you would have seen him come in for sure, yeah.'
Farrell had anticipated more than pluck from Cork and so it transpired. A total of 1-8 from Cork's inside line as they made endless darts from the end-line out the field to pick up ball was a tidy return.
Dublin were not impressive and the little pressure they put on Cork, especially in the first half, contributed to the proximity of the teams. Cork led 1-8 to 0-9 at half-time, Chris Óg Jones's 11th-minute goal a combination of kick-out pressure, quick-thinking by Brian Hurley, and a sterling finish by the Jones.
Brian Howard's reponse came in the 45th minute, taking an indirect free from Ciarán Kilkenny and sending the ball to the same Hill 16 net with the same conviction as Jones. It put Dublin ahead for the first time. The Dublin of old would have bundled scores onto that three-pointer but Cork's response was excellent. They produced the next four points to go ahead in the 53rd minute. The teams were level on three occasions up to the 58th minute but from there on Dublin outscored Cork four points to one as they regained the upper hand on kick-outs.
'I suppose we were a bit starved of possession at times there,' admitted Cleary, who was upset with some of Seán Hurson's calls. 'We couldn't do anything with Dublin's kick-out particularly, which had been successful for us all year, and I thought we didn't get the rub of the green from the referee either.
'I don't like criticising referees, but some of them (decisions) were three feet from me and I could not understand it. And then when it happened the other way, Dublin seemed to get them. There was one off the ball then, and we were looking down the first half, the exact same thing was happening, and we didn't get any of them.'
Afterwards, Cleary was using another 2024 line – 'a mixed bag' – to sum up Cork's season, the fourth and final year of his current term. There will be plenty keen to see him remain on but inconsistency remains a frustration for him.
Cork, he says, don't need much to get them going for the vaunted opposition. It's the other games where they have been lacking. 'For the bigger matches, we don't seem to have a problem.
'Any time we play Kerry, even though we were beaten, well beaten in the round robin, I thought we played very well for a lot of it. And the Dublin match again, there wasn't a lot of getting up for the lads, I knew that they were in the right place coming in here today.
'That's why we'd be very disappointed to come so close, and everyone would be looking back at this incident and that incident when you're beaten by one score, but look, that's the nature of the championship this year, and I suppose maybe the one pleasing thing is that we know at our best that we can compete with anyone in the country.'
Scorers for Dublin: S. Bugler (1tp), C. Costello (2 frees (0-5 each); B. Howard (1-0); P. Small (0-4); C. Kilkenny, J. Small, L. Gannon, N. Scully, L. Breathnach (0-1 each).
Scorers for Cork: C. Jones (1-3); M. Cronin (0-5, 2 frees); B. Hurley, C. O'Callaghan (0-2 each); I Maguire, M.A. Martin, S. Walsh (45), C. O'Mahony (0-1 each).
DUBLIN: S. Cluxton; E. Murchan, D. Byrne, S. MacMahon; B. Howard, J. Small, L. Gannon; P. Ó Cofaigh-Byrne, C. Kilkenny (c); K. McGinnis, S. Bugler, N. Scully; P. Small, L. O'Dell, C. Costello.
Subs for Dublin: C. Murphy for L. O'Dell (45); L. Breathnach for K. McGinnis (56); T. Lahiff for L. Gannon (59); N. Doran for N. Scully (68).
CORK: M.A. Martin; M. Shanley, D. O'Mahony, N. Lordan; B. O'Driscoll, S. Brady, M. Taylor; P. Walsh, C. O'Callaghan; I. Maguire, S. Walsh, S. McDonnell; M. Cronin, B. Hurley (c), C. Jones.
Subs for Cork: E. McSweeney for P. Walsh (48); C. Cahalane for S. McDonnell (temp 49-58); C. O'Mahony for B. Hurley (55); S. Powter for M. Taylor (58); L. Fahy for N. Lordan (63).
Referee: S. Hurson (Tyrone).
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Daily Mirror
35 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Jack O'Connor hits out at Kerry critics and ex-Kingdom players after Armagh win
Jack O'Connor has blasted ex-Kerry players turned pundits, accusing them of 'lacking loyalty to the team.' Speaking after Kerry's impressive 0-32 to 1-21 win over All-Ireland champs Armagh in Sunday's All-Ireland quarter-final, O'Connor hit out at the way his side were written off inside and outside the county. And he challenged those criticising the Kerry team to get involved in coaching instead of sniping from the sidelines saying, 'it's very easy to knock people.' O'Connor said: 'One of the great motivators in life is trying to prove people wrong. We were being portrayed as a one man team. 'I saw somebody writing this morning that the only Kerry player worthy of being called a Kerry player was David Clifford. David is a great player but David would tell you that there was a fair support cast out there today. 'We think we have a lot of good footballers but I think sometimes we are being judged on different criteria to other teams. 'For example, Dublin got beaten by Meath in the Leinster Championship. I didn't see any ex-Dublin players coming out slating the team or slating the management like we had down south in our county. 'There was a sense of commitment to the team and a sense of loyalty to the team. Unfortunately a few pundits let themselves down in that regard.' O'Connor continued: 'I'm not giving out about it from my own point of view. I just gave the example that I never hear Dublin's ex-players slating the team. 'They're loyal to the group, they're loyal to the county and they give their support. What's to be gained by slating people? It's the easiest thing in the world. I'm in the business of building people up. I'm not in the business of knocking people. 'I spent all my life coaching underage school kids, minors, Under-21s, seniors, at every level. I'm in the business of building people, not knocking people. I'd ask people who are knocking that group and knocking people involved with the group to look in the mirror and say, 'What have you contributed? What have you contributed to Kerry football off the field?' You know what I mean? 'It's very easy to knock people. Go away and coach a team. Go away and coach a development squad. Coach a minor team. That's how you help, not knocking people."
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
Belief the big difference as Meath come from nowhere to make semi-final
The sweat is still colonising Robbie Brennan's forehead as he sits and surveys Meath's All-Ireland quarter-final victory over Galway. Hands up anyone who saw that coming at the start of this most unpredictable and historic of Championships. Brennan started his summation by describing all this as 'part of the plan', and reiterating the one training sessions and one game at a time mantra that has seen them take down the Dubs and Kerry and make a first All-Ireland semi since 2009. But these things don't just happen. Ruari Kinsella is sat beside the boss. The strain of the previous 70-plus minutes is hardly visible. He looks good to go again there and then as he answers the question everyone should be asking: where did youse boys come from? 'The main thing is belief, really,' said the Dunshaughlin man. 'The boys who've come in have just instilled that belief into us. I feel like over the years we've had the quality, we've had the players, but the belief just wasn't there. 'We didn't have the confidence to think, 'oh, yeah, we can beat these,' whereas this year it's a completely different story. We've gone into every game thinking, 'yeah, why can't we win this game?' So, yeah, we've showed that so far in the Championship this year. 'Hopefully we keep that going.' Well, we'd be mad to bet against it now, wouldn't we? No Leinster county other than Dublin has contested an All-Ireland decider since Meath were beaten by Galway back in 2001. This is the sort of territory we have stumbled into it now. Brennan vowed to keep the province's flag flying after a game backdropped by the sights and sounds of Meath fans reclaiming Hill 16 from their city brethren after so much pain and disappointment in the last two decades. The funny thing is that it was their big loss this year – the Leinster final shortfall against Louth – that seems to have fuelled the desire and the belief that saw them withstand a seismic comeback from Galway late in this second-half. Jack Glynn of Galway in action against Meath players, left to right, Seán Coffey, Keith Curtis, and Eoghan Frayne. Picture: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile 'I think the Leinster final probably stood to us,' Brennan explained. 'We said in that dressing room that we'd be back here this year. No matter what we had to do with it, we'd get back here. And we knew then we were back and this was our opportunity. 'Like, you know, we're probably lucky. Is that what everyone says? We keep getting lucky. We were lucky against Dublin. We were lucky against Kerry. And I guess we were lucky again today. So, we'll see who we get in the semi now. And we'll have to be lucky again, I suppose.' Some individuals need highlighting. Meath conceded 2-3 in the few short minutes where Sean Rafferty was on the sideline. His departure was, according to Brennan, due to a touch of miscommunication. His return to the fray coincided with a settling of the ship after that Galway salvo. 'Listen, in my opinion, he's the best full-back in the country. I hear other managers bigging up their players for all-stars. If he isn't an All-Star, and if [Kinsella] isn't an All-Star, whoever picks him is not doing their job' There were other heroes, but we'll go with just one more: Jordan Morris. All bar a point of his 1-6 came in that second-half when a game that started at a crawl burst into life. The Kingscourt man was simply electric. 'As I keep saying, there's a touch of genius about Jordan, and I've referenced before the likes of Walshie [Shane Walsh], who was out there, and maybe Paul Mannion having worked with these kind of guys. But Jordan is absolutely in that category. 'He is impossible to mark at times, literally impossible to mark, and other times you can have a little turnover, but they're what we call creative turnovers, aren't they? You're allowed to have them when you're that type of player.' Nothing won yet, but the good times are back in Meath, just two years after winning the Tailteann Cup under Colm O'Rourke. Brennan beamed when he thought of the garda escort down the Navan Road and the cars beeping and fans cheering. 'So, look, if anyone's holidays booked, please, God, just change them, and we'll see you in a couple of weeks with a bit of luck.'
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
No snap call on future by emotional Padraic Joyce
The maroon tracksuit had already been replaced with a denim shirt and trousers by the time Padraic Joyce made his way in to the GAA Museum to give his thoughts on an utterly disappointing performance and All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Meath. On the walls around him were framed, enlarged posters of past deciders. His own Galway team had appeared in two in recent years and, if they only fell one point shy here, then it felt like they were a million miles off the mark too. The whole Championships has felt like a struggle, like they had walked the path with leaden shoes. This is where that weight had taken its toll, against a hungry and growing Meath team that has gone from nowhere to a semi-final in the blink of an eye. Meath's journey sums up such a wide-open campaign, a newfound democratisation of the game where counties can transform from Tailteann Cup winners in 2023 to within 70 minutes of a shot at Sam Maguire in the space of just 24 months. This title was there for the taking. Still is for that last four. 'Our job was to beat Meath in a quarter-final, we just weren't good enough to do it,' said Joyce. 'There's no point... If we can't do that, we can't go on and try to win it out. Yeah, we had ambitions of winning it as every team that's left has. But there is some good teams left in the competition. 'Football is levelling out a good bit. It's great to see Meath back because they had gone away a long time. They were a powerhouse over the years so fair play to them, and their supporters, they were really good. They got behind their team and all we can do is wish them well as they go forward.' There was one frustrated remark about a free that never was for his side down the stretch, but Joyce wasn't leaning in on that line of angst or complaint. Some days those go for you and some others they don't. He knows that's the deal. He accepted, too, that Meath had probably 'left' Galway in it over the course of the game. Robbie Brenan's side had missed some good goal chances, and must have been puzzled how they went down the tunnel a point adrift after that first-half. 'We just didn't get to the levels of the game and we didn't really perform the way we should be performing,' said Joyce. 'It's hard to figure what was going on. We had a poor first half and in general, in fairness. Meath probably left us in the game as well. 'Then when we came back to go three up we probably thought that our experience might get us over the line but we gave away a short kickout and got dispossessed too easily and we conceded 2-6, 2-7 in turnovers.' Joyce spoke of a raw emotion at their exit. It's hard to square away thoughts in neat bundles and soundbites at times like that but he made a fair fist of it He felt their experience would do it for them when they went from six down to three up inside five minutes. It didn't. 'The lads will regroup and go again,' he predicted. And what of him? It was announced last October that Joyce's term, renewed in 2022 until the end of this season, was to be extended through to 2026. He has been there for six years and owes nothing to anyone but he showed his experience again when asked on this. 'We've just gone out of the Championship so I'm not going to make any rash decisions. We'll sit and chat. There's a lot of lads in there with decisions to make about next year as well, as we have as a management, so we will do that in due course. 'The county board have always been very supportive of me and the players so we will sit down and get things properly organised. Whatever will be will be. There will be no statements or no rushes coming out the next day or two anyway.'
