McCarthy: we just can’t do it easy
Another sunny evening in Thurles. Another breathless sprint to the final whistle.
“The players just can’t do it easy,” the Corkman said. “We didn’t play in the first-half, quite obviously. We were a little worried about how the lads would react to the hard game we had last Saturday, they had so little time to recover. And we didn’t hit the ground running.
“I think we were lucky in that some of the substitutions we made worked out for us, they gave us a lift, so we’re happy to win – but it was a real fight to the end.”
Invited to analyse Cork’s comeback, McCarthy instanced Barry Nugent’s late first-half goal as a huge blow.
“It was of the soft variety, and it set us back. We were eight points down at half-time, and we equated it to last Saturday night, when our backs were to the wall, and we told them we hadn’t played.
“We weren’t winning the breaks – Clare absolutely cleaned us out on the breaks in the first-half. It looked like our legs were heavy, that we just weren’t reacting to breaking ball. We tried to lift them, and they came out very strong at the start of the second-half, and we got a goal, which was very important.”
Two of McCarthy’s substitutes, Timmy McCarthy and Kieran Murphy, got goals while the third, Neil Ronan, got the insurance point, but the manager passed when invited to bask in the reflected glory.
“Sometimes they come off . . . we had quite a few tired bodies out there, and two or three other lads could have come off as well. Fellas were just tired, and it’s a hard ask to play two championship games in a week. Some lads played U21 as well during the week, so that’s three games.
“I said last week that it was too much for fellas, and it is. The GAA is asking too much of these lads, they may think that because they’re young fellas that they can keep going, but these big games take a lot out of you. It shouldn’t be allowed, playing three championship games in one week. They need to take a look at that.”
That said, the manager praised those younger players for their contribution.
“Cathal (Naughton) was good, Patrick (Horgan) had some lovely touches and we had very tough luck for a first-half goal, the Clare keeper made a great save. It was a tough game, and we showed a lot of patience to get back into the game – and a lot of skill. I thought some of our point-taking in the second half was outstanding.
“In fairness to Clare, it was a very gutsy performance out of them to take that lead, and then when we came back so strong, they took another five-point lead. We had to dig very deep to win it.”
Kilkenny are Cork’s next opponents. There’s a clear difference between Cork’s path to this All-Ireland semi-final and the Leinster champions, untested since their provincial win over Wexford.
“I can remember times when waiting around for six weeks for a semi-final didn’t work out too well for Cork,” said McCarthy.
“There are pros and cons – whether we’re wearing ourselves out, or whether Kilkenny are rusty, we’ll know in two weeks.”
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