This game was watched by a crowd of 1,658 at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Last weekend’s comfortable victory in Carrick-on-Shannon maintained Cork’s perfect start to life in Division 3, the first time since 2015 the county has taken maximum points from their opening two league games.

Arriving at a venue his players were unfamiliar with, to take on something of the unknown in Leitrim on heavy underfoot conditions, Ronan McCarthy knew this would enlighten him further on the attitude of his troops.

Cork this afternoon continued their winning start to life in Division 3, the visitors to Carrick-on-Shannon recording their second league victory to remain firmly in the hunt for promotion.

Ciaran Sheehan also makes his first competitive start for Cork in seven years.

John Fogarty previews Division 3 of the Allianz Football League.

Put aside momentarily the gulf in strength and game experience between the two sides in Tralee yesterday. Any cursory examination of what Cork started with, brought on, didn’t use — or have away on club duty with Nemo Rangers — would lead one to conclude there’s impressive depth and breadth to the Cork football squad as 2020 looms.

Éamonn Fitzmaurice and Tony Leen ran the rule over both teams alongside Colm O'Connor in the commentary box.

Nemo Rangers upped the ante big time in the second half to send champions St Finbarr’s packing in appalling weather conditions at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday. The incessant rain made this Cork SFC quarter-final a real slog before the 2017 champions got the formula right after a sluggish enough opening half.

St Finbarr’s made it out of Bandon yesterday with their defence of the Cork SFC still intact, but not without a stern test from Carbery Rangers.

Cork may have lost their third competitive game of the summer and exited the championship but do so with their heads held high.

A come-from-behind second-half effort secured Tyrone their second win of the Super 8s series and, in the process, all but guaranteed themselves an All-Ireland semi-final berth.

Cork will have again travelled up the M8 by bus yesterday in preparation for taking on Tyrone this evening in Croke Park.

Cork is not a county that trades in moral victories and yet Ronan McCarthy's footballers can take plenty of positives from an ultimately convincing 13-point defeat to the five-in-a-row chasing All-Ireland champions this evening.

Cork’s maiden voyage into the Super 8s begins this evening and the challenge facing them couldn’t be any bigger than that posed by the five-in-a-row chasing Dublin.

Midway through the post-match conversation with Ronan McCarthy, a passing Ian Maguire, spotting the handful of dictaphones pressed close to the Cork manager, couldn’t but help himself when bellowing at the top of his voice, “Big Ron is at the wheel”.

While Cork’s victory on Saturday may not have come as a surprise the gulf in class certainly was. Cork produced their best display of the year to add to the evidence that they are heading in the right direction.

‘Bring it on,’ was the battle cry from Brian Hurley as a rejuvenated Cork face into a fortnight of Super 8s action at Croke Park where they’ll line up against the two counties who contested last year’s All-Ireland final.

Cork will spend the next two weekends in Croke Park after comfortably securing their place in the Super 8s with this emphatic 14-point dismissal of Laois.

The inconsistency which plagued Cork football in recent seasons is no longer an issue, according to goalkeeper Mark White.

We all know the biggest bugbear about GAA officiating is inconsistency and there was a classic case of it in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday. For the same infringement, Anthony Nolan made three different calls.

Regrets? They’ll have a few.

Just 18,265 souls, the worst crowd for a Cork-Kerry Munster SFC final in 36 years, were treated to entertainment if anything else as the challengers gave Kerry their biggest test in four years.

The deepening ennui around Gaelic football presents many side effects.

The Cork footballers need to get “tough upstairs”, according to captain Ian Maguire, who believes the team too easily collapsed in recent years when hitting a sticky patch during games.

Cork have handed out three championship debuts for Saturday’s Munster SFC semi-final against Limerick in Páirc Uí Rinn.

Champions St Finbarr’s opened their Cork SFC defence with an emphatic victory over Clyda Rovers at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday with new manager Paul O’Keeffe, following in the winning footsteps of former boss Ray Keane, well happy with his players for a job well done.

Armagh 1-14 Cork 3-9

Seán Powter will start his first game for the Cork footballers in almost 14 months this weekend.

Cork forward Luke Connolly will miss this Sunday's must-win league fixture away to Armagh, dealing a significant blow to the Rebels' survival hopes.

With Cork unable to do themselves any favours on Saturday, it was the unintentional goodwill of others that has them still in with a slim chance of avoiding the drop.

Donegal’s fourth league win of the spring has kept alive their promotion bid, while, in the process, moving Cork perilously closer to the relegation trapdoor.

When Cork football rolled out its 2024 vision document last month, it was generally applauded how pragmatic its proponents like Graham Canty were by acknowledging that Cork were now outside the top 10 teams in the country, in truth, a mid-table Division Two side, and a distant second in Munster.

It was glass-half-full time for both managers after a hotly contested equalising score by Conall Jones with the last kick of the game salvaged a point for Fermanagh against 14-man Cork in Enniskillen.

Ronan McCarthy has included four league debutants for Cork's Division 2 opener against Fermanagh.

Cork will meet Clare in the McGrath Cup final this Saturday after comfortably dismissing Limerick in today’s penultimate round clash at a venue which had neither a stand nor a scoreboard.

After a 33-year wait, Andy Scannell will reside in Togher for the winter after the Barr’s deservedly overcame Duhallow in an excellent and enthralling contest in Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday, writes Paddy Kelly.

Better decision-making, better game-management. Greater adaptability. More mature, more experienced.

It remains sport’s enduring mystery: The No-Show.

Here's your round-up of club action...

It’s something of an understatement to suggest the early summer optimism surrounding the Cork footballers was well and truly extinguished by Kerry just two weeks ago.

Cork are 7/2 with the bookies but I wouldn’t back them. I was never involved with Kerry in a Munster final in Páirc Ui Chaoimh where Cork were that friendless in the market. The message is clear: Being competitive and getting within two or three points of Kerry represents progress.

For Ian Maguire, it’s all about learning from the experiences.

Cork will often end up with as many as 11 outfield players behind the ball, writes Paddy Kelly.