Latest news with #JohnCleary
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
If Cork manager John Cleary's time is up, could John Fintan Daly's time be finally now?
If John Cleary decides to call it a day as Cork football manager, could an outspoken Knocknagree man, with an impressive managerial cv, be the next man up? Corkman Where to for Cork football now? The Rebels season came to an end – some might say an inevitable end – against Dublin last Saturday, a three-point loss drawing a line under a season that promised much but failed to deliver much. If success is measured by wins and silverware, then the Cork footballers' year was a failure. They didn't win promotion out of Division 2 (again), they didn't reach the Munster final (again), they didn't get back to the All-Ireland quarter-finals. The played 13 games across the National League, the Munster Championship and the All-Ireland Championship, winning six and losing seven: that's a 46% success rate.
Irish Examiner
6 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
John Cleary: Football now 'way more enjoyable to coach'
John Cleary was making no declarations about his future only to highlight his current term as Cork boss has concluded, yet he revealed the new rules have made his role more pleasurable. Cleary's four-year term concluded with Saturday's season-ending loss to Dublin and while he will have strong backing to remain on, the commitment is considerable for him and his management. 'I won't say anything at the moment. My term is up now, I've been four years in it, and as anyone will know it's tough going, but look, we'll see during the week, or we'll talk to the relevant parties or whatever. But look, at this stage now, my term is up, so we'll see what the future holds going forward.' However, Cleary made it clear that he is enjoying coaching more than ever because of the changes to the game. 'The rules definitely have opened the whole thing up completely, in that prior to this you could keep yourself in a game by putting 15 behind the ball. Now you've got to go and play and a lot of teams have discovered that they have very good players when they're allowed to express themselves and go for it. 'But there wasn't much point, the last couple of years, trying to go for it, when you were facing 15. They just ground you down, and they broke up and maybe got a score and maybe won the game 10 points to nine or whatever. 'But as regards to the championship, it is very open. There was five of us talking the other night, and five of us picked different (counties), what we thought would win the All-Ireland. So, I think that's where we're at now and I think it's something great to look forward to for the next few weeks. 'We're awfully disappointed that we're not in that mix now and we would love to be because the football this year, it has been way more enjoyable to coach, more enjoyable to watch, and the lads are even saying it's way more enjoyable to play. "Overall, I think it's been a super championship and I think probably the best is yet to come for the next few weeks.' On top of some surprise results, Dublin manager Dessie Farrell also believes the rules have contributed to levelling out the playing field. 'It's more what the impact the rules are having on the game, I think, rather than the actual specifics of the rules themselves. 'It seems to be a leveller. It's hard to maybe qualify why that is the case, but definitely it seems to be so. I think a lot of teams have really embraced the change-up. 'The couple of turn-ups for the books gives other teams confidence as well. You see before us, the Dublin hurlers, even on the football side of things, that gives people confidence as well. 'There's nothing gifted to you anymore, and you can't take anything for granted. Every game from here is going to be a proper contest, you would imagine.'
Irish Examiner
6 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
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).
Irish Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
'We can compete with anyone in the country' says Cork boss as they make exit
Cork boss John Cleary says that his side have proven that they can compete with the best in 2025. While Cork have little to show for from the season in terms of tangible success having failed to win promotion from Division Two or make a serious dent in Munster, while they only just got out of their group to make the last 12, Cleary believes there is something to build on from their showings against Kerry and Dublin. 'For the bigger matches, we don't seem to have a problem then,' he said. '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.' Assessing the season as a whole, Cleary said: 'The League was a bit mixed, but we finished very well, and look, if we had won one more victory, we probably would have got promoted. 'The Championship then, the Kerry match, we had our chance in extra-time. The round robin was a bit up and down. 'The Meath game, we would have been disappointed, Kerry were a bit better than us on the day of the second game, but I thought we battled very well the last two weeks, particularly the Roscommon game to eke out a victory, and look, on another day, we could have got over the line today, so look, there was a lot of positives as well out of the year.' As for his own future, having served a part-season as interim manager in 2022 followed by three years in the hotseat, he said: 'I won't say anything at the moment, my term is up now, I've been four years in it and, as anyone will know, it's tough going. 'But look, we'll see during the week, or we'll talk to the relevant parties or whatever but at this stage now my term is up, so we'll see what the future holds going forward.'
Irish Times
7 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Dublin get there in the end against battling Cork
All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final: Dublin 1-19 Cork 1-16 For a long time, this was shaping up to be Cork 's big win of the season. Just as Donegal had run foul of a fluent performance by John Cleary's team a year ago, so too Dublin looked to be on the receiving end this time. There were a couple of differences. Twelve months ago, Cork were at home in Páirc Uí Rinn and more alarmingly for the home team, this was no round-robin affair but an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final. In the end, Dublin had enough composure to see it out but for most of the match, Cork were either ahead or staying within a point or two. READ MORE The evening started poorly for Dublin with the news that captain, Con O'Callaghan was out. He was replaced by Lorcan O'Dell but only a few weeks ago, in his absence, Armagh had won much as they liked on a visit to Croke Park and an air of apprehension settled on the disappointing crowd of 36,546. Initially, there looked no issue and the favourites sprang into a four-point lead, with a brace of points from Paddy Small and others from Ciarán Kilkenny and Seán Bugler. Cork's calm persistence characterised the first half. Chris Jones was allowed to get too close and opened the scoring in the ninth minute, followed shortly after by Mark Cronin's free to halve the lead. In the 12th minute a line ball from Brian Hurley into Ian Maguire was carried towards the Dublin goal before he spotted Jones making a run and like that the ball was in the net and the lead changed hands. Hurley's follow-up point meant that his team had shot an unanswered 1-3 in seven minutes. Dublin had been having some success on kick-outs, as Peadar Ó Cofaigh-Byrne got his hand to most, landing in his vicinity but Cork's intervention on the breaks improved and by the end of the half, they were stretching away by four after Jones kicked another score for a lead of 1-8 to 0-7. There were some bright spots for Dublin. An energetic display by Killian McGinnis was highlighted by one dispossession in the 23rd minute and Ó Cofaigh-Byrne won a throw-in to provide an assist for Cormac Costello but there was generally too much tentative play and a shot total of fewer than 30 told its own story by the end. On the stroke of half-time, Bugler hoisted a two-pointer to cut the deficit to two, 0-9 to 1-8 – an important contribution given how subdued the team's overall display was proving. [ Inspired 14-man Dublin beat Limerick in remarkable championship shock Opens in new window ] GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Preliminary Quarter-Final, Croke Park, Dublin 21/6/2025 Dublin vs Cork Dublin's goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton dejected after Cork scored the opening goal Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/James Crombie Cork's inside forwards were constantly threatening and appeared able to score almost at will. Goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton came to his team's rescue when Jones was in on goal again but his opposite number Micheál Aodh Martin landed the 45. On the resumption, Bugler filled in the Con O'Callaghan role from last week by lurking on the spare sideline, awaiting the pop pass from Ó Cofaigh-Byrne, which had sourced two points against Derry at the start of either half but on this occasion, the Cuala centrefielder was beaten to the punch and Cork took off instead. Dublin did however level the match by outscoring their opponents 0-3 to 0-1 in the first 10 minutes of the half and even better, almost immediately hit the front, as Brian Howard rediscovered his scoring touch not from one of those sidestep and kick points but having pushed up front, he broke inside the D, lost the defence with a turn and rifled the ball into the net to put his team in front, 1-12 to 1-9. It will have disappointed Dessie Farrell that his team didn't use this as a turning point, instead continuing to play loosely and without much conviction. Cork to their credit took the goal in their stride and within three minutes, Colm O'Callaghan and Jones, from a turnover, reduced the deficit by two. Dublin needed to keep the scoreboard moving but Paddy Small kicked a terrible wide and after Ó Cofaigh-Byrne provided an assist for Gannon, his shot from an ambitiously tight angle was swallowed up by the Cork defence. Going into the final quarter, Seán Walsh restored Cork's lead and all the momentum of the Howard goal had evaporated. There was some energy off the bench for Dublin with the arrival of Cian Murphy and Luke Breathnach and the match teetered. To the winners' credit, they finally asserted themselves and after replacement Cathail O'Mahony levelled for Cork for the last time, Costello clipped a point from a Murphy assist and Paddy Small extended the lead. Cronin pulled one back but Daniel O'Mahony fouled Costello off the ball, giving his victim an easy free. In the 67th minute, the last chance came for Cork but Seán McDonnell's attempt at a two-pointer fell short into Cluxton's grateful embrace. The final play saw Howard set up Breathnach for the insurance score. Dublin make it into the quarter-final draw. It wasn't easy but what has been, this season? Dublin: S Cluxton; E Murchan, D Byrne, S McMahon; B Howard (1-0-0), J Small (0-0-1), L Gannon (0-0-1); P Ó Cofaigh Byrne, C Kilkenny (capt; 0-0-1); K McGinnis, S Bugler (0-1-3), N Scully (0-0-1); P Small (0-0-4), C Costello (0-0-5 2f), L O'Dell Subs: C Murphy for O'Dell (45 mins), L Breathnach (0-0-1) for McGinnis (56 mins), T Lahiff for Gannon (59 mins), N Doran for Scully (68 mins). Cork: MA Martin (0-0-1 45); D O'Mahony, M Shanley N Lordan; B O'Driscoll, S Brady, M Taylor; I Maguire (0-0-1), C O'Callaghan (0-0-2); P Walsh, S Walsh (0-0-1), S McDonnell; M Cronin (0-0-5, 2f), B Hurley (capt; 0-0-2), C Óg Jones (1-0-3). Subs: E McSweeney for P Walsh (48 mins), C O'Mahony (0-0-1) for Hurley (55 mins), S Powter for Taylor (58 mins), L Fahy for Lordan (63 mins). Referee: S Hurson (Tyrone).
