Corcoran urges Rebels to bounce back or face early exit

SOME coming attractions don’t need a trailer. No matter what their relative strength at any given time, Cork and Kerry is always a draw.

And both have plenty of incentive to claim their first Allianz League points of the season after disappointing defeats last weekend.

“We’d won our four previous games and prepared well, and we were hoping for an away win, but it just didn’t turn out that way,” reflected Cork selector John Corcoran, on their four-point loss to Offaly in Tullamore.

“We gave probably one of our worst performances and didn’t play anywhere near our potential. That’s not an excuse - to their credit, Offaly did well, they crowded their defence by pulling their half-forwards back towards goal, but we still had a good amount of possession. We missed two good goal-scoring chances, and if we’d taken one or both, we could have gone on and won the game. The performance definitely wasn’t a reflection of the team’s ability.”

This weekend Cork are without one of their totems: Nicholas Murphy has been a beacon in midfield, and his shoulder injury last Sunday had the team management fearing the worst.

“Yes, we’re missing Nicholas, but his injury isn’t as bad as we first feared,” said Corcoran. “He’ll be getting physiotherapy for a couple of weeks, but we still expect him back within a month. He’s always played well for us against Kerry, he’s a good ball-winner and well able to get up and down the field, but dealing with injuries is part and parcel of the game.”

In his place, Cork are trying newcomer Michael Shields of St Finbarr’s. Corcoran is confident he’ll fill Murphy’s shoes.

“Michael’s been playing Under-21 for Cork for the last two years, he’s been playing for UCC and he’s a Barrs senior. We’re happy with him; if we didn’t think he was up to it, we wouldn’t pick him.

“Saturday’s going to be an interesting night in more ways than one. Whoever loses will probably have to say goodbye to their league ambitions for another year, because any team that loses two games will be in severe difficulty. Kerry will be looking to bounce back after losing to Mayo, Darragh Ó Sé was good last weekend, and they’ll have Colm Cooper back.

“Obviously Kerry will be trying out new forwards - Dara Ó Cinnéide has retired, there’s talk Liam Hassett will retire and Paul Galvin is suspended.”

Cork saw that Kerry side at their best in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final, but Corcoran is happy the Leesiders are making progress.

“Last year is done and dusted, we have a lot of young players coming through. We hope they’re learning and that the future is bright for Cork. Last Sunday was a blip, there’s no need to panic. We’re hopeful of making the breakthrough sooner rather than later to get Cork back where they belong.”