Leahy hails win but warns ‘we’ve nothing won yet’

IT WAS no surprise to find that the Cork management team was refusing to get carried away by yesterday’s dramatic victory.

The manner of the win was enough to satisfy the cravings of any adrenalin junkie but with no All-Ireland to show for four consecutive semi-final appearances, manager Tony Leahy and his selectors showed little inclination to break open the bubbly.

“Thanks be to God we’re there but we have nothing won yet,” said selector John Cleary. “We were in the final last year and there is no point is just making a final. You’ve got to win it. There was no cup or medals handed out today and Cork badly needs this All-Ireland.

“We think we have the bunch of lads here to do that the next day. This team was due a bit of luck. They didn’t get any at minor or in last year’s final. We were bound to get it eventually. We got it today.”

They have some work to attend to before they meet Laois in a fortnight’s time. Sublime in the first quarter and for much of the second, they struggled after the interval when they had to face a stiff wind as well as a determined Armagh side.

“Old habits die hard,” said Cleary. “Any Armagh team that goes out will battle right to the end. We saw that again today. Very often they come out on top but this time it was a Cork team that came out on top.”

Leahy pointed to a handful of avoidable mistakes made by his lads after their opening dominance that re-opened the door for Armagh.

“Armagh played a very direct type of game and they had some huge men in and around the middle,” said Leahy. “If we could scrap there we knew we would have a great chance of winning the game.

‘‘They dominated in midfield for long spells but we held on.

“Most teams might have buckled but we stood up to be counted. We knew it would be backs to the wall, that it would come down to the wire. We harried and hassled and scrapped for every ball and that’s what won us the game in the end.”

Had Kevin O’Rourke’s last-minute shot been a fraction to the left, all that harrying and hassling would have been in vain. As it was, all Armagh manager Peadar McDonnell could do was think about what might have been.

“It’s all about narrow margins, about inches. We had opportunities but we didn’t capitalise on the chances we made and we ultimately paid the price.

“I was quite pleased coming up to half-time that we had managed to get five points.

‘‘They were all hard earned against such a significant breeze. I don’t think people watching realised how strong it was. Cork found it difficult playing against it in the second half, their unerring forwards hit some bad wides.”

Preparations for yesterday’s game were not ideal for Cork, with the players only coming together last Thursday because of the programme of games in the Cork intermediate and senior championships.

However, Leahy intimated yesterday that the process is in motion to prevent that from happening in the two weeks prior to the decider, where a familiar foe awaits in the form of Laois — whom Cork beat at the second time of asking in last year’s semi-final.

“This was a good, tough game and we are renewing rivalries with Laois again this year. No disrespect to the teams we played in Munster, but this was a great test for us. It was what we wanted,” said Leahy.

“We know Laois and Laois know us inside out. They’ll be a tough, hard team to beat. We had it very difficult against them the last time.”