Fronting up: how Cork’s attack fared

If Cork’s forward line is considered a liability, then the Rebels’ three-in-a-row bid is firmly on track, says Michael Moynihan.

CORK’S forward sextet, the most maligned offensive force since the Spanish Armada, started smartly yesterday, when Niall McCarthy drove over an inspirational opening point. It didn’t quite start a deluge, mind: for the rest of the half numbers ten to fifteen in red managed only two more points from play, through Brian Corcoran and Joe Deane, out of their ten-point total.

The ratio improved in the second half: Deane added two from play, Corcoran scored one and Neil Ronan, while on as a blood sub, got another. Seven out of twenty, one-third of the total scored by forwards from play. More fuel for those arguing the poverty of the Leeside attack, then.

Not quite. For one thing, eight of the remaining scores – another third — came from frees or 65s: that indicates huge pressure being put on the opposing defence, pressure that yields scoreable frees. For Cork fans reared on Jimmy Barry-Murphy or John Fitzgibbon poaching wonder-goals it’s not as sexy, but it’s got teeth.

The team ethic rules supreme in Cork’s attack. Apart from Ben O’Connor in last year’s All-Ireland final the Cork forwards don’t tend to amass huge personal totals.

Selector Joe O’Leary gave an insight into their mindset yesterday when discussing Cian O’Connor’s contribution: “Cian didn’t score but we were very happy with how he played. He’s well able to score but he kind of sacrificed himself. He can be very happy with his senior championship debut.”

On those criteria O’Connor, who worked tirelessly throughout, was a success. He and his half-forward colleagues, Timmy McCarthy and Niall McCarthy, weren’t bothering the umpires too frequently yesterday, but when Tom Kenny seared through the Clare defence after quarter of an hour yesterday he had his upfield colleagues to thank – they were the ones making the thankless runs into space to draw Seanie McMahon and Gerry Quinn out of the middle.

In other codes they’d be recognised – when Michael Owen scored his wonder goal against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup, Alan Shearer said nobody picked up on his decoy run to draw defenders out of position. He was only half joking.

Lastly, the experience picked up in the last three All-Ireland finals means they don’t panic. They started yesterday with the man who scored 1-7 against Galway last September, Ben O’Connor, on the sideline, and after ten minutes they were four points down. They kept calm and, as Joe O’Leary noted, they were rewarded.

“Joe Deane has been written off,” said O’Leary yesterday, “But he went out and had a superb game, scored nine points and won the man-of-the-match award. Brian Corcoran certainly won his battle with Brian Lohan. The likes of Timmy McCarthy and Cian worked very hard, while Niall McCarthy was back to the old Niall Mac.”

The same names. Still there. Still winning games.