Injuries and mileage led to downfall, insist legends

THE loss of key players, rather than any underlying fundamental flaws, is being cited as the main reason Cork lost to Mayo in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-final on Sunday.

Going into the game without attacking trio Daniel Goulding, Ciarán Sheehan and Colm O’Neill, all of whom played in last year’s All-Ireland final, and Barry O’Driscoll, who was introduced as a sub against Down in this year’s qualifiers, meant Conor Counihan’s side were left short of options in attack, resulting in just one point in the second half of Sunday’s defeat.

Dinny Allen, who captained the Rebels to the 1989 All-Ireland title, feels that, despite talk of a lot of strength in depth on the panel, the absence of those players was too much of an obstacle.