Rebels to pass tougher test
The empirical fact when it comes to Cork-Down clashes of recent times is that Cork win by ever increasing margins. One point in September 2010 became 11 when the sides met in the league six months later and increased to 12 by July of last year. So when Cork spanked them by 13 in Páirc Uí Chaoimh just nine weeks ago, Down people had good cause to believe this would inform the narrative for the foreseeable future. A subjective assessment of this year’s league campaign to date tells another story.
Down take to the field in Croke Park tomorrow without two of their better players of recent years, Danny Hughes and Dan Gordon. They have been up and down ever since their one-point win over Donegal at the start of the campaign and only their away win in Castlebar and defeat of Dublin in Newry gave the impression of a team with some sense of purpose.
Why then should we be giving them a chance against Cork? It’s the first time Down have come up against Cork with a fully fit Ambrose Rogers on the field. One player will never make the difference between winning and losing but it is worth noting Down have struggled badly in past encounters in the midfield area and conceding ground here at an early stage has proven fatal against Cork.
Irrespective of who partners Rogers, Down should be better capable of negating Cork’s usual tactic of splitting the Down midfield leaving vast spaces of Croke Park between them for Alan Quirke to pitch his kickouts into. In previous encounters Quirke had many options between numbers five and 12 but putting Aidan Walsh at full forward robs him of one of those. Rogers’ presence covers another and now only Graham Canty and Fintan Goold could be considered to have it over their direct opponents in the aerial department.
If James McCartan plays Kevin McKernan as a sweeper and leaves Conor Maginn to do what he’s being doing to good effect behind midfield all season, then Cork might have to think again.
Based on the evidence we’ve seen in recent weeks — the first 35 minutes against Kerry, the first 50 minutes against Mayo and the last 35 minutes against Dublin — Cork aren’t the type of team that think their way through a game. The lateral handpassing has blighted a high proportion of the league games this season is even more infuriating in Cork’s case as they have the physique and the power not to have to resort to that. We might accept the continued absences of Daniel Goulding and Ciarán Sheehan as mitigation but the eight goals they’ve scored in this campaign (joint highest with Dublin) are a mere smokescreen. Four of those goals came when tomorrow’s opposition were at their most vulnerable, two more came against a pathetic Laois side in mid-March and the other two were an own goal by Armagh’s John Kingham in the first round and a misjudged attempt at a high catch by Aidan Walsh in the last round.
The reality is Cork’s attacking options aren’t as well developed as their defensive ones right now and yearning for a return of the Goulding/Sheehan axis hardly qualifies as a strategy. The average concession of just over 11 points per game is impressive but credit for that must go to being well set up from the half-forward line back and it certainly isn’t due to any great improvement in defensive options since last February.
Cork supporters should be happy about the fact their team has reached the play-off stages in this division for the third year in a row but it somehow doesn’t feel that way. They may not beat Down by double digits tomorrow but they should have another day out all the same.
That should be enough to keep us churls silent!
And only a churl could find fault with Kerry’s progress this spring but the nagging concern leaving Austin Stack Park last Sunday was that Kerry still hadn’t found what they’re looking for in the full-back line. Tomorrow’s line-up of Shane Enright, Marc Ó Sé and Killian Young look likely to be the championship combination because neither Peter Crowley nor Brian Maguire (half-backs par excellence) looked at home on the inside line against Mayo. While Daniel Bohan is a genuine option, Tom O’Sullivan’s intentions are far from clear and the management doesn’t appear to be too concerned about them either. From numbers 5 to 15, it appears that only Eoin Brosnan and Tomás Ó Sé are likely to break back onto the team and perhaps the biggest wish that Jack O’Connor would have ahead of tomorrow’s match is that Peter Crowley, Brian Maguire, Paddy Curtin and others continue to make it difficult to select the championship team.
Mayo will be encouraged by certain aspects of their play last weekend. Kevin McLoughlin and Alan Dillon won a world of breaking ball and Jason Doherty and Cillian O’Connor may have recovered some of the confidence they appeared to have lost earlier this spring.
James Horan may sense Andy Moran could cause Marc Ó Sé to revisit the awkward moments he endured in last August’s semi-final or alternatively, he could check how Ó Sé likes having the towering, if slightly timid, Barry Moran for company at the edge of the square.
Either way, Ó Sé looks to be playing so well as to be impervious to all threats and if he is afforded some protection in the half acre in front of him, he should maintain those high standards.
For Mayo to beat Kerry and reach the final in two weeks’ time, they are going to have to go beyond the levels of aggression and belligerence they reached in the opening half of last August’s championship meeting. In doing so they must then hope referee Eddie Kinsella adopts what Pat Gilroy recently described as “championship reffing” as opposed to “league reffing” criteria — that difference between empirical fact and subjective assessment again.
Referee Maurice Condon was more than generous to Mayo last week. It would be a stretch to expect Kinsella or Kerry to be likewise two Sundays in a row.
