Counihan’s Cork in a rude state of health
A fourth consecutive league campaign finished with a trophy and a victory speech in Croke Park yesterday. With returning injured players adding to their options, they face into the summer in a rude state of health.
When Counihan and his management analyse yesterday’s sideline performance they’ve got grounds to be pleased. They got their match-ups at the back right. Eoin Cadogan totally dominated Conor Mortimer. While his ball skills were deficient — particularly in the first half when he was sloppy in possession — he totally snuffed out Mortimer, which robbed Mayo of an important score getter. Noel O’Leary was given the task of tracking Andy Moran and negated one of Mayo’s big men, using his expertise of the dark arts when required, particularly under breaking ball. Most significant, however, was the stationing of Graham Canty at left half-back. Canty picked up Kevin McLaughlin. This played into Cork’s barrow. McLaughlin is energetic and has ferocious pace but is used as a defensive half-forward by James Horan. He plays as a safety behind midfield and engages any runners that breach Mayo’s first line of tacklers. This works when a sole runner escapes, but Cork specialise in attacking in numbers from this area. As he withdrew, Canty dominated and was the main reason Cork won.
