Cork come up with right answers

SATURDAY night in Páirc Uí Rinn was an instructive league exercise that will assist both Conor Counihan and Pat Gilroy when it comes to finalising their championship blueprints.

Cork and Dublin both entered the game in positive mood thanks to residency in the top end of the NFL Division 1 table. But for the former there were nagging doubts after a setback in Omagh the previous week and for the latter there was the uncertainty as to whether they have attained the consistency of performance they desperately crave.

Ultimately it was Cork who departed with the answers and Dublin with the questions.

This was a crushing defeat by the hosts and but for the lethargy of their second-half play at times, there was a sense that Cork could have kicked on to double their margin of victory.

It was a night where Cork built from the back and that’s what should please Counihan most. The scoring they have conceded when under pressure and the anxieties in the full-back line play that has lead to the concession of messy goals have been two primary issues of late. There was a marked improvement here, caused largely by the return of Eoin Cadogan to the side at full-back and the subsequent release of Michael Shields to a centre-back position where his ball playing skills and authoritative play are better served.

Cadogan endured a five minute period of uncertainty in the second-half when Bernard Brogan knifed through for a splendid 46th minute goal and flashed another shot wide, but in general the dual star put manners on the Dublin danger man and anchored Cork’s challenge superbly.

Overall Cork’s defence were a watertight unit, only conceding 1-1 in the last 44 minutes of action and Brogan’s 28th minute score transpired to be Dublin’s last point from play of the night.

“I thought we tightened up a good bit at the back,” noted Counihan. “We were disappointed with Monaghan and Tyrone. We conceded two goals tonight, and were probably unlucky with one, but overall I was happier’’

The result and scale of the defeat will help douse the flames of hype that were starting to burn around this Dublin team. Gilroy may not view that as a bad thing as this performance was a salient reminder of how Dublin still have much improving to do.

Cork’s dynamism, angles of running and constant support for the player in possession helped them punch holes in the Dublin rearguard and that was best encapsulated by their two first-half goals. Daniel Goulding grabbed the first in the 12th minute after Patrick Kelly and Alan O’Connor did the hard graft, and then Kelly’s incisive break in the 27th minute lead to Paul Kerrigan smashing a drive to the net. Those strikes helped Cork to a 2-8 to 1-5 interval advantage, Kevin McManamon bagging the goal in reply for Dublin, with Kerrigan, Goulding and Kelly all keeping the scoreboard ticking over with points and John Hayes at the heart of Cork’s best work.

There were other sources of satisfaction for Counihan. Cork have used 29 players in the league and it was two players at opposite ends of their career who shone brightly in their first taste of 2010 action. Derek Kavanagh (a late replacement for Pearse O’Neill who broke his thumb in training) is an old hand at this stage, but he helped obliterate Dublin’s midfield with a display that included two thumping points from distance. Nineteen-year-old Ciarán Sheehan received his inter-county debut after only nine minutes when Nicholas Murphy damaged a hamstring. He thrived at full-forward though, snaring two points and bringing a greater focus to Cork’s attacking play with his ball-winning.

The substitutes that Dublin were forced to make illustrated vividly their difficulties on the night. Midfield was a graveyard for their ambitions with neither Ross McConnell or Eamonn Fennell lasting the game. Ger Brennan’s inter-county career continues to stall after he was whipped off after half an hour and Michael McAuley never got going at centre-forward either. Apart from the industry of Alan Hubbard and Kevin McManamon, bright spots were a rare commodity but Gilroy felt the second-half was better.

“It’s clear if you don’t work against a team like them, they’ll kill you. That’s what Cork did, they killed us in the first-half. Nobody was coming back to cover and to concede 2-8 was too much. I was a lot happier there with the second-half as we worked a lot harder.”

Scorers for Cork: D Goulding 1-4 (0-2f), P Kerrigan 1-2, C Sheehan, D Kavanagh, P Kelly 0-2 each, A O’Connor 0-1.

Scorers for Dublin: B Brogan 1-2 (0-1f), K McManamon 1-1, E Fennell, A Hubbard, C Keaney (0-1f) 0-1 each.

Subs for Cork: C Sheehan for Murphy (inj) (9), S Kiely for O’Leary (63), C O’Driscoll for Kissane (65), F Lynch for Goold (68), B O’Regan for Cotter (68).

Subs for Dublin: K Nolan for Brennan (30), D Kelly for McAuley (half-time), D Magee for McConnell (43), C Keaney for Flynn (47), McAuley for Fennell (62).

Referee: Pat McEnaney (Monaghan).