Gary Brennan: Cork find enough to survive but consistency remains big concern
27 March 2022; Mattie Taylor of Cork is congratulated by Cork selector John Cleary after their side's victory in the Allianz Football League Division 2 match between Offaly and Cork at Bord na Mona O'Connor Park in Tullamore, Offaly. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
ULTIMATELY, Cork preserved their Division Two and Sam Maguire eligibillity. That's the most important thing. But it wasn't without its complicatipons against the stubborn resistance of Offaly in an almighty scare in Tullamore.
Having led the tie for the first 60 minutes, it took cool heads and quality finishing to overturn what became a two-point deficit in the closing stages. In doing so, they answered some questions about spirit and ability to overcome adversity, but questions will remain as to how they allowed themselves to lapse into such a position. Offaly will feel as though they let it slip in the end, but they will also rue a first-half display that only really ignited just before the break.
For the first 30 minutes, Cork looked superior. All three of their full-forward line were threatening, but especially Cathail O’Mahony. He raised a green flag after just two minutes. Offaly had bodies back but O’Mahony’s first sidestep took him inside Lee Pearson along the endline, and as Dylan Hyland raced across to cover, the Corkman stepped back inside and finished well. Colm O’Callaghan twice found himself bearing down on goals, including straight from the throw-in. He elected to fist over both times but Cork were creating gaps. Offaly were caught in two minds. At times, their defensive line was deep in front of that Cork full-forward line but when it was, Cork were being allowed far too much room to work the ball up the field.
Eoghan McSweeney was quite effective as a running link man to bring Cork from back to front though he was guilty of a couple of wides in this period. When Offaly did push their defensive line further out towards the 45m line, it wasn’t aggressive enough and Cork were finding gaps in behind which John O’Rourke was very influential in finding and exploiting.
In defence, they were creating a plus one (usually Rory Maguire), who was offering good protection to his full back line. Offaly forced a couple of balls to the inside line and appeared a bit shot-shy. They were taking extra passes when opportunities seemed to be presenting themselves. They were blocked down or tuned over in front of goal several times. They were having no success on the Cork kickout. Cork won 100% of their own first-half kickouts, mostly short, but when they did go long, they resourced the breaks well and Ian Maguire had one clever tap-down. To their credit, Offaly themselves kept all bar two of their own kickouts but they were slower to get the ball up the pitch.
However, the game had what looked like a turning point just before half-time. Offaly had a free in the middle of the field and Niall McNamee gave a clinic in movement for inside players. While Ruairí McNamee stood over the ball, he signalled several times looking for a direct delivery. He was being marked tightly by Kevin Flahive with Kevin O’Donovan now sweeping in front but made a run across the free player before checking backwards. Now both defenders were watching him, but his eyes were on the ball. The delivery was inch-perfect, he claimed it overhead and was dragged down. Anton Sullivan finished the resultant penalty and with Kevin Flahive sent to the sin bin, Offaly suddenly started believing.
Half-time, however, halted their momentum and within six minutes of the restart, Stephen Sherlock was kicking beautifully, and the gap was back to six points. For a team playing for the fifth week in a row, Offaly showed fantastic resilience to claw their way back into the game again. They became far more aggressive all over the pitch, but especially on the Cork kickout in the second half.
They pushed up inside and worked much harder to remove the short option and occasionally pushed Paddy Dunican up from goals as an extra body in the middle. They had done this on a couple of occasions in the first half also, but not with the same intent. Cork got their first two kickouts of the half away but after that lost possession from the next five in a row.
They were going long more often and Offaly were getting more bodies around the breaks. Even when Colm O’Callaghan did win one of these five, his attempted handpass was intercepted. This fuelled Offaly’s momentum. Between the 42nd and 59th minute they outscored Cork by 0-10 to 0-4 to get themselves level at 1-17 each. Niall McNamee was excellent, kicking 0-4 of these including a mark from inside the D - a sign of how Cork’s defence was less structured than in the first half.
Offaly managed to get two ahead but then couldn’t close it out, though it looked as though Cork wouldn’t either. After Blake Murphy got it back to one, twice Cork turned over possession in attacking positions. One of these was a warning for Offaly as Paddy Dunican’s kickout was caught inside the 20m line. Cork won the throw-in but failed to score.
Four minutes later though after patient play against a packed defence, they found Brian Hurley n a pocket of space on the 45m line and he kicked a fine score. Once more Offaly went to the well and found something, Ruairí McNamee kicking excellently to nudge them back in front. They conceded the kickout and set themselves up to defend but again, Cork were patient and Cian Kiely kicked another fine score from a similar position to Hurley’s.
Offaly got their kickout away but what followed will haunt them. After winning the kickout short, Jordan Hayes looked to play the ball cross-field but left the pass between centre-back Declan Hogan and goalkeeper Dunican. Hogan turned to run forwards, forgetting that Dunican couldn’t receive the return pass and as the ball was about to trickle over his own endline for a 45, Dunican flicked it in desperation and the result was a free which Stephen Sherlock stroked over.
So, did Cork win it, or did Offaly lose it? There is no doubt that much of the focus will be on that final kickout incident and it seemed a harsh result on Offaly given the position they had gotten themselves into, but they just didn’t do enough in that first 30 minutes. Had they brought a fraction of the intensity they showed later, it could have been different.
Cork did just about enough in their sticky patch to weather the storm but consistency remains a concern. They will take encouragement from having dug out the result when it seemed to be slipping from them. For Offaly, it is certainly a setback, but they showed enough spirit and skill in that second half to suggest that they could yet have an interesting summer.
