Counihan cautious as Laois pay dearly for Cork’s travel

Cork may have been disappointed when stripped of home advantage for this tie but their trip to the midlands proved a perfect tonic for a side that shed points on its two previous away jaunts.

Going by the form guide this might have been a tricky assignment: after all, Donegal had beaten Cork and Laois had bettered if not battered Donegal but the vagaries of league football are many and complex and such linear patterns rarely run true.

“There is a big difference in a week,” said Cork manager Conor Counihan. “Things went for us this week. We would have been disappointed last week in Donegal while Laois played very well in stages against Dublin. It changes every week at this time of the year. Championship is the real test and I wouldn’t take too much from either team’s performance tonight.”

Counihan attempted to soften the blow for his opposite number when he spoke about Justin McNulty being “short a few” but the absent Pádraig Clancy and Brendan Quigley weren’t the deal breakers two days ago.

Laois’ problems are more deeply-rooted.

Justin McNulty is a year and a half into his tenure now and there is nothing to suggest that the 2003 Leinster champions are any better now than last summer when they suffered trimmings at the hands of Dublin and Kildare.

Add in the demolition job done on their U21s by Dublin earlier in the week – the final score was 2-21 to 0-4 – and the scale of the county’s slide from the days when they were contesting senior provincial finals and winning All-Ireland minors is clear.

They deployed a sweeper here and were still overrun by a Cork side playing within itself and Longford will fancy their chances of an upset when they meet in Leinster later in the year. It is against that backdrop on which Cork’s evening must be dissected.

The ease with which Cork claimed the two points can be highlighted by the fact that it took 30 minutes for the visitors to earn their first free. They had 1-8 on the board by then and the result was already in their pocket.

The visitors were a dozen points to the good at half-time with Colm O’Neill and Aidan Walsh central to most of their scores and both of the evening’s more interesting subplots centred on the pair who contributed 2-6 and much more.

Walsh’s workload with various teams has been considerable of late and it seemed like a sensible option to play him at full-forward until Pearse O’Neill picked up a second yellow card after the interval and the man from Kanturk was pulled back to fill the void around the centre.

“He did (well),” said Counihan with a chuckle. “It’s just as well he missed the first two (goal chances) or we would have never heard the end of it. He is a very versatile guy and he gives a lot to the team. He likes the wide open space but he is a good option up there.”

Walsh had a hand in the Cork goals, both of them scored by Colm O’Neill who tacked on a trio of points in a performance that came just over a year after a season-ending cruciate knee injury against Galway in Salthill. His second.

“Yeah, the operation was April 1st,” said the man from Ballyclough. “It is a long road and there is no easy way of doing it. It is a lonely road and it is nice to get a few games under your belt. Hopefully I can stay injury free now.”

Both Walsh and O’Neill were chief instigators in, and recipients of, attacking play which allied the team’s renowned running abilities with a heavy sprinkling of longer and faster ball into a three-man full-forward line that also boasted Donncha O’Connor.

That energy and focus slackened after the break, an inevitability with the game won so early and O’Neill sent to the line, but 35 minutes was all it took to reaffirm the impression of a side with a frightening arsenal at its disposal.

If there was a criticism it was in the fact that it took 59 minutes for the likes of Barry O’Driscoll and Sean Kiely to be plugged into proceedings but that amounts to a small quibble on a night when any lingering fear of relegation was put to bed.

“That’s what it is about, trying to get the two points on the board and make yourself safe,” said Counihan. “We did that. We probably had a good first-half and a poor enough second-half but, look, job done and it was a good improvement from last week.”

Scorers for Laois: MJ Tierney (0-4, 3 frees); R Munnelly (0-2); J O’Loughlin (0-2); P Cahillane (0-1) C Begley (0-1).

Scorers for Cork: C O’Neill (2-3); A Walsh (0-3); F Goold (0-3); D O’Connor (0-2, 1 free); E Cotter (0-1); P Kissane (0-1); P Kerrigan (0-1).

LAOIS: E Culleton; P O’Leary, K Lillis, C Healy; C Boyle, C Begley, D Strong; K Meaney, J O’Loughlin; P Cahillane, D O’Connor, B Sheehan; R Munnelly, A Kelly, MJ Tierney.

Subs: M Timmons for O’Connor (35); S Conroy for Sheehan (35); S Ramsbottom for Kelly (46); L Kealy for Strong (67); G Walsh for O’Loughlin (67).

CORK: A Quirke; R Carey, E O’Mahony, E Cotter; P Kissane, N O’Leary, G Canty; A O’Connor, P O’Neill; F Goold, P Kerrigan, P Kelly; D O’Connor, A Walsh, C O’Neill.

Subs: B O’Driscoll for Kerrigan (59); S Kiely for Canty (59); D O’Sullivan for Kissane (67); L Shorten for D O’Connor (67); J Fitzpatrick for A O’Connor (67).

Referee: C Reilly (Meath).