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.

A couple of important firsts for the Cork footballers on Saturday.

A strong third-quarter showing - during which the hosts outscored Offaly by 0-6 to 0-1 - ensured Cork made a winning start to life in Division 3 of the Allianz football league.

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

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

Bantry Blues and Bandon will have to do it all over again following an entertaining Cork PIFC quarter-final in Dunmanway yesterday afternoon.

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’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.

Cork will not make the mistake other teams have by adopting a defensive approach when facing the Dubs, half-back Tomás Clancy has said.

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.

Former All-Ireland winners John Cleary and Tony Davis believe Cork have nothing to lose heading into this year’s Super 8s on the back of a comprehensive victory over Laois.

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.

Seán White, like many of his Cork teammates, has never played an inter-county fixture at Croke Park.

Cork football manager Ronan McCarthy has said it is “vital” for the development of his team that they progress to the Super 8s.

Life was breathed into the Munster championship on Saturday in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Cork showed up and battled, stayed with Kerry for the game but ultimately came up short. Kerry played in fits and starts, put up a good score and got the job done. Both teams have plenty to reflect on this week as they ready themselves for the serious stuff.

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.

Cork have not reached the last eight of the championship since 2014, falling at the fourth-round hurdle each summer since. But irrespective of who Cork are pitted against on this occasion, McCarthy is adamant that his team are well capable of progressing to the Super 8s.

Regrets? They’ll have a few.

Cork manager Ronan McCarthy refused to be drawn on the performance of referee Anthony Nolan, remarking that he’d be “better off” holding his counsel where the man in the middle is concerned.

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.

Conor Counihan may have been a man for the dummy team but none of his successors — Brian Cuthbert, Peadar Healy, and Ronan McCarthy — have been known for it.

The one-sidedness of the Cork-Kerry rivalry since 2012 has not diminished it in the slightest for David Clifford.

Ruairí Deane, somewhat understandably, isn’t keen to get bogged down in talk about the 2018 Munster SFC final.

Limerick’s seven-point Munster SFC win over Tipperary last month ensured there was no possibility of Cork taking the Treaty men lightly, according to debutant Eoghan McSweeney.

The old Mike Tyson deadpan came to mind as Limerick’s Munster final ambitions were obliterated in the opening 12 minutes of Saturday’s SFC semi-final at Páirc Uí Rinn.

The furnishings in Pairc Ui Rinn won’t rival Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano for comfort anytime soon, but no-one was forced to the edge of their seats Saturday night in Cork as the hosts romped to a 21-point Munster SFC semi final victory over Limerick.

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

A pulsating Cork PIFC opening round tie went right to the wire before Bantry Blues edged St Vincent’s at Enniskeane last Saturday evening.

Armagh 1-14 Cork 3-9

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.

It ended with bodies being flung, arms spread wide, legs hacking chaotically, and the general confusion of a final ’45 dropped upon close to 28 players.

Where in the opening round Cork succeeded in securing a point despite being a man down for the closing 27 minutes of action, yesterday, despite being a man up for the same period of time, they were unable to manage anything at all.

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.

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.

There was a weird atmosphere walking away from Páirc Uí Caoimh last Saturday evening, writes Mike Quirke.

In the Páirc Uí Chaoimh media area after Saturday’s Munster football final the record books were being consulted and scoring sequences examined.

THE problem for the Cork footballers and those burdened with making the repayments on Páirc Uí Chaoimh was not the sight of thousands streaming out before the end of Saturday’s lopsided Munster final. It was the percentage of them who won’t be back.

Cork 2-4 Kerry 3-18

Waking up this morning to re-watch Saturday night’s Munster final, I began to wonder if it was really as bad as it seemed in the flesh at Páirc Uí Chaoimh?

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.

The conversation with Ronan McCarthy is almost four minutes old when the performance of Ruairí Deane is brought up.

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