Counihan: job well done
Conor Counihan approached Croke Park yesterday with that mindset. The Cork boss declared before this game, his side needed to undergo improvements from their Munster campaign and warned of Donegal’s propensity to be sticky opponents.
Yet prospects of a tense afternoon on the sideline never materialised, as Counihan had a pleasurable experience, seeing his charges soundly thrash Donegal. It was the most one-sided match of the Aghada man’s tenure at the helm and by half-time Cork could already consider upcoming battles as they held a 0-13 to 0-3 advantage.
But Counihan’s post-match reaction was to bat away any accolades and instead pointed to the more salient fact that their opponents gave an impoverished display.
“We’re just happy that it’s job done and we’re in the semi-final. Obviously it’s a bit disappointing the challenge wasn’t greater. I suppose Donegal suffered from being on the road in the last couple of weeks. That’s not a true reflection of what Donegal are capable of. It’s disappointing from their point of view.
“From our own point of view it’s disappointing we haven’t been tested further. I don’t think we learned a whole lot today. I think it was down to that they didn’t get into it in fairness. We don’t rack up that sort of score against a fully fit Donegal team, you wouldn’t do it. Our scoring was quite good, our forwards took their scores and that was a positive thing out of it.”
With the contest over in the final quarter, Cork coughed up scores as Donegal struck for goals from Rory Kavanagh and Stephen Griffin.
On a day when Donegal barely rose a gallop, Counihan stated his concern that his charges still conceded 2-10.
“It’s a serious issue and you cannot concede that,” he said.
“That’s not clutching at straws. To concede that against a team we were dominating was disappointing.
“We’ll certainly be working on that hard over the next three weeks.
“The reality was we played well at times and kicked some good scores but we did concede scores too and there’s a lot to do.
“You’re looking for a level of performance, you’re looking for 70 minutes and I don’t think we can accept that as a standard.”
Cork had named defensive stalwart Anthony Lynch at left corner-back in their team announcement, but the Naomh Abán man was pulled from the starting side before the off. Counihan’s clubmate Kieran O’Connor slipped into the defensive berth and gave a composed performance, but Lynch could yet come back into the frame for the All-Ireland semi-final battle with Tyrone on August 23.
“Anthony’s relatively close,” revealed Counihan.
“We’d be confident he’ll be okay for the semi-final. Look, we are where we are, we’re in a semi-final now and if we get our heads right, then I believe that we have quite a good chance of winning that semi-final regardless of the opposition.
