Intrepid Cork go on offensive and beat Monaghan
The beauty of this latest Cork victory might be that they won’t get the credit for it. Even if this was a rip-roaring bruiser of a game, even if they beat Donegal when the league resumes on March 1, even if they go the rest of the campaign undefeated, the jury will remain out until July 5 at the earliest. Leagues are no longer accurate barometers for them.
They understand that, and they probably won’t mind all that much. Here, operating more offensively than last week, they were good for their victory because of their doggedness. Twice in the second half, Monaghan looked to be on their way to two wins out of two, only for an otherwise quiet Colm O’Neill to find the net.
It was O’Neill who also fired over the winner in injury-time when he managed to find some space from a sticky marker in Ryan Wylie. Having recorded a 100% record with his earlier eight frees, most of the 5,248 crowd in Castleblayney would have banked on Conor McManus rescuing a point for Monaghan with the last kick of the game from 42 metres but it sailed wide.
Six of those eight frees McManus himself won, a statistic which might provide uncomfortable reading for the Cork rearguard who, to be fair, were excellent in alternating duties when a team-mate was out of position.
The team will be a mite concerned too how quick Monaghan were to score on the counter-attack. The prime example of that came in the first half, when Paul Kerrigan’s attempt at a point fell short, Rory Beggan collected and inside 20 seconds, Kieran Hughes had dropkicked the ball past Ken O’Halloran.
On the plus side, O’Halloran’s restarts were nigh on perfect and Mark Collins thrived in midfield, where he formed a solid partnership with Ian Maguire. That they didn’t score from play until the 29th minute, when Donncha O’Connor lofted over a left-footed strike, was indicative of how slow they were to build up attacks, said Brian Cuthbert.
“We were very ponderous in the first half and we allowed bodies to get back for Monaghan. But once we play very quickly, we’ve actually very good forwards and once we get the ball to them, I think they can be quite dangerous. Once you slow down, in any games you play in this thing, there are bodies back.”
Aside from the goals, it was only in the last 15 minutes that Cork’s points rate from play increased. Cork trailed 1-7 to 0-8 at half-time.
The loss of Dessie Mone to a black card just before the interval threatened to upset Monaghan but they had forged a four-point lead seven minutes into the second half.
Cuthbert admitted: “I thought Monaghan had the game when they went up by four points. There was only one team at that stage but then we got the goals and they got us back into it.”
Cork had to stage another comeback when Monaghan responded strongly to O’Neill’s first goal, Dermot Malone pointing and then McManus pinging over three frees he had earned.
Collecting a lovely Collins pass, O’Neill found the net again in the 55th minute and shortly afterwards put Cork ahead for the first time.
Monaghan responded with frees from McManus and Paul Finlay but Eoin Cadogan moved forward to put the visitors in the driving seat again after Brian Hurley had equalised.
Another McManus sealed and delivered free in the 67th minute saw the sides level for a ninth time before O’Neill kicked the winner in injury-time after Collins had hit the post a little earlier.
Monaghan manager Malachy O’Rourke wasn’t too upset about missing out on a draw. He confirmed he had left it to the players to decide who was to take the free at the death, which was also into a slight wind. He said usual long-range free-taker Beggan wasn’t an option as he has a slight knee problem.
“We were happy with a lot of our play,” he insisted. “We got a big score against a quality team like Cork. The most disappointing thing was that we gave the ball away, it was probably from our own mistakes that Cork got some of their scores, particularly their late ones
“It would have been great to get something out of the game but that’s the way. We’ll just have to regroup and look to tough games coming up.”
Cork may have had it easier in the first half had Fergal Kelly not turned them down for a penalty in the 18th minute when Colm O’Driscoll was clearly upended in the area. It didn’t matter in the end. They go into the three-week break reasonably happy, if mindful judgment day is months away.
Scorers for Monaghan: C McManus (0-9, 8 frees); K Hughes (1-0); P Finlay (0-3, 1 free); F Kelly, K Duffy, C Boyle, D Malone (0-1).
Scorers for Cork: C O’Neill (2-6, 0-4 frees); D O’Connor (0-5, 4 frees); B O’Driscoll, B Hurley, E Cadogan (0-1).
Subs for Monaghan: V Corey for D Mone (black), T Kerr for D MacKenna (both ht); D Clerkin for N MacAdam (57); K O’Connell for S Gollogly, O Duffy for R McAnespie (both 66).
Subs for Cork: K O’Driscoll for P Kerrigan (ht); M Shields for C O’Driscoll (51); J Hayes for D O’Connor, D Óg Hodnett for B Hurley (both 66).
MONAGHAN: R Beggan; D Wylie, C Boyle, R Wylie; D Mone, K Duffy, F Kelly; N McAdam, P Finlay; D Malone, S Gollogly, R McAnespie; C McManus, D McKenna, K Hughes.
CORK: K O’Halloran; E Cadogan, Thomas Clancy (Clonakilty), J Loughrey; B O’Driscoll, C Dorman, Tomás Clancy (Fermoy); I Maguire, M Collins; J O’Rourke, D O’Connor, C O’Driscoll; C O’Neill, P Kerrigan, B Hurley.
Referee: F Kelly (Longford).
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