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Irish Times
14-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Cork hang on to hold off late Roscommon surge and keep their summer alive
All-Ireland SFC: Cork 0-19 Roscommon 0-17 It ended on a knife-edge. Needing just a draw to put them through, Roscommon were camped in the Cork half when the hooter sounded, scouting for a two-point shot. After the usual over-and-back Diarmuid Murtagh engineered a shaft of daylight outside the arc, but as soon as he put boot to ball Daniel O'Mahony executed a diving block. Seán Powter picked up the pieces and Cork's hearts slinked back down their throats. It was a dramatic finish to a pulsating second half. Having led by four points at the break, Cork extended their lead to six midway through the second half. But Roscommon took over after that and Cork were pushed into the last ditch. When Cork lost their footing at centrefield cracks started to appear in their defence and Micheál Aodh Martin in the Cork goal came to their rescue twice in the closing stages. With 12 minutes to go Daire Cregg was put clean through with a raking diagonal pass, a goal at his mercy. Martin rushed from his line and deflected Cregg's shot, one-handed, from point-blank range. READ MORE The ball, though, carried on at a reduced rate of knots towards the Cork goal-line. The Cork full back Seán Brady and the Roscommon substitute Ciarán Lennon thundered towards the loose ball, and Brady just got there first. The difference was inches. A few minutes later, Martin was called upon again when he burst through a crowded goalmouth to get his fists to a treacherous dropping ball. By then Cork were hanging by a thread. In the end, the problem for Roscommon were two-pointers. They didn't even attempt one for an hour, but in the closing 10 minutes they tried four shots from outside the arc, none of which hit the target. Cork will wonder how they nearly let it slip. For the guts of half an hour in the middle of the game they utterly dominated centrefield and ran at Roscommon in waves. Colm O'Callaghan and Ian Maguire were superb around the middle, Paul Walsh and Seán O'Donnell mopped up breaks, and even though Cork were getting very little from their inside forwards, they were picking off scores from outside. But when Roscommon got their hands on a succession of Cork's restarts the tide turned. The outstanding Cregg kicked three second-half points to add to his two in the first half, Diarmuid Murtagh landed a couple of beauties and Cork went 15 excruciating minutes without a score. All bets were off. Cork's Seán Brady tackles Ben O'Carroll of Roscommon during the game in Portlaoise. Photograph: Leah Scholes/Inpho Cork's four-point lead at the break was at odds with the opening 25 minutes when neither team was able to assert control. Roscommon led by two points early on, but that advantage was wiped out by a two-pointer from Brian O'Driscoll, Cork's most bountiful source of shots from outside the arc all season. The surface was greasy from downpours earlier in the afternoon and both teams were guilty of handling errors and debilitating turnovers. Cork, though, were more dangerous on the break, and though neither goalkeeper was forced into a save in the first half, Cork had three goal chances. Two of them fell to a resurgent Maguire who fired over the bar twice from no more than 10 yards out. Seán McDonnell had a whiff of a goal chance too but eschewed the space in front of him took a handy point – the first of his three. The sides were level four times in the first 24 minutes, but the impetus of the game changed when Cork got a grip on Roscommon's kick-outs. O'Callaghan and Maguire repeatedly got a fist to the ball and Cork were sharp on the breaks. Seán Walsh's direct running punched holes in the Roscommon defence and Cork were able to develop shooting opportunities. In a nine-minute spell late in the first half Cork kicked five points without reply and led by 0-10 to 0-6 at the break. Roscommon made a bright start to the second period and cut Cork's lead in half within a couple of minutes. But then Cork settled again and surged again. A run of four points without reply at the end of the second quarter, two of them by O'Callaghan, put Cork 0-17 to 0-11 in front and seemingly in control. All that changed, though. In the end, anything could have happened. Having won just one competitive game since they beat Cork on March 1st, Roscommon's season is over. Having been beaten three times in the championship already, Cork will continue for another week at least. They will take something from this, even if a late-season transformation is surely out of the question. CORK: M A Martin; S Meehan, S Brady, M Shanley; B O'Driscoll (0-1-0), D O'Mahony, M Taylor; I Magure (0-0-2), C O'Callaghan (0-0-2); P Walsh (0-0-2), S Walsh, S McDonnell (0-0-3); M Cronin (0-0-5, 2f), B Hurley (0-0-1), C Óg Jones Subs: R Maguire for Meehan (h-t); E McSweeney (0-0-1) for S Walsh (42 mins); S Powter for P Walsh (55); Deane for Taylor (59); C O'Mahony (0-0-1) for Jones (61). ROSCOMMON: C Carroll (0-0-1,45); P Frost, B Stack, D Murray; R Daly, S Cunnane, S Lambe (0-0-1); E Nolan (0-0-1), E Smith (0-0-1); D Ruane (0-0-1), D Smith (0-0-1), D Cregg (0-0-5); D Murtagh (0-0-2), B O'Carroll (0-0-1), C Murtagh (0-0-1). Subs: C Neary for D Smith (50 mins); C McKeon (0-0-2) for Ruane (52); C Hand for Daly (54); C Lennon for O'Carroll (56); D Kenny for Lambe (66). Referee: M McNally (Monaghan).
Irish Daily Mirror
23-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Daily Mirror
Micheál Martin on relationship with father, political ambitions and Cork hopes
Micheál Aodh Martin and his father keep an eye on how the other is performing but, beyond that, they don't tend to swap opinions. 'We probably have a mutual thing there,' explains the Cork football goalkeeper of that aspect of his relationship with his namesake. 'I won't scrutinise his performance if he doesn't scrutinise mine! We've probably both learned over the years that it doesn't work otherwise." Still, during his first spell as Taoiseach, when the Covid-19 pandemic was raging and inter-county training and games were shut down, the younger Micheál couldn't resist the odd light-hearted barb, but not so much now. "Yeah, in fairness, over the last couple of years the WhatsApp has gotten a bit quieter and I don't give him as much stick. 'But I'd say he's probably enjoying this year more. I think anyone in his generation cannot understand the handpass. You'd be trying to explain. He kind of gave up on that one a few years ago and doesn't scrutinise it too much." The Fianna Fáil leader is a regular at his son's games - but plenty of others too. "He'd go to all the hurling as well. He genuinely loves it. If you check who Nemo were playing in the junior league, and my brother plays with our junior team, he'd be a good attendee at their Division 7 league games as well. That'd be his break really." His father isn't the only politician in the family with the Taoiseach's brother, Seán Martin, the sitting on Cork City Council and another sibling, Pádraig, has also dabbled, though Micheál Aodh, who works in corporate finance for PwC, is somewhat coy when asked about the prospect of putting his name forward some day. "I think I've enough on my plate now. Inter-county football definitely takes up most of my time and I'm happy in the day job." In the long-term? "Look, we're all interested in it. Whether I'd have an interest in taking on a role, because I can see what it entails, I haven't thought that far ahead. I just have an interest in him and the issues locally. 'Really, to be honest, I have an ambition with Cork. I really want Cork football to keep improving. That's my driver at the moment. I'd love to get back into big games." In that regard, they had a huge opportunity last month when pushing Kerry to extra time in the Munster semi-final only to lose narrowly. In the head to heads, they've been getting closer to their fiercest rivals in recent years but having had them on the rack with an extra man for long periods, Martin doesn't subscribe to the view that this was the chance they simply had to take. "That's not the way I'd look at it, no. We beat them in 2020 and subsequently didn't win a Munster Championship. The goal was to win a Munster Championship and Cork haven't won it for a long time. 'No member of our squad has a Munster medal so that was our goal going into it. We fell short and then you just move on and you have to get ready for the All-Ireland series. 'We have no interest in getting close. We just have to move on now and hopefully have a good All-Ireland series." They don't have to wait too long to face Kerry again in any event, with the counties both drawn in Group 2 of the All-Ireland series, though Cork start with a trip to Meath tomorrow. The new rules have changed the game for everyone, though it is Martin's position that is most profoundly affected. Apart from the kickout having to go longer and the restrictions on goalkeepers joining the play, he says much more is demanded of him in terms of goalmouth action now. 'Year on year, you probably spent less time doing the old, traditional stuff to do with goalkeeping like shot-stopping, handling, high balls. 'But actually that's increased because there are two-pointers dropping short in and around the square so you have to command your square and make good decisions around that. And then also there are definitely more shots per game on goal. 'I wonder if that will increase now as the summer goes on.' His Tyrone counterpart Niall Morgan said that the position would be much less attractive to him if goalkeepers were not allowed to join the play outfield, but Martin was drawn to the position because he 'always enjoyed saving the ball'. Indeed, he keeps goal for Nemo Rangers in hurling too. 'I wouldn't be as against that rule change or anything like that [goalkeepers roaming]. But that will always come down to personal preferences and goalkeepers should really not have too much of a say in that debate because that rule change is about the game for the spectator, as opposed to a goalkeeper's individual feelings.' Be it his father's politics or goalkeeping, Martin knows when to keep a lid on things.
