Tomás Clancy: ‘We’re not just looking for results, but performances’

A Cork win in Ballyshannon tomorrow, a second in seven days, won’t have anyone not least the players believing again. But a performance?

Another performance may be enough to convince the group they are on the right track. Learning to distinguish between the two is the only lesson on this team’s curriculum.

Right now, it’s only they who care. Supporters have been bitten too many times to trust anything they see in spring. They may return in time but it will take plenty for them to be assured it’s not another false dawn on the horizon.

At the Allianz League launch last Monday week, Eoin Cadogan spoke of how victories would follow performances. Speaking now, Tomás Clancy is reading from the same script. It was Clancy’s second-half goal which threatened to paper over a patchy Cork display against Donegal in Fr Tierney Park last year. A similar smash-and-grab attempt may garner points on this occasion but it won’t satisfy what Cork are pursuing in the competition.

Since 2014, their league campaigns have rightly been viewed in most sceptical terms. The players are just as wary about placing any stock in wins. Congratulate Clancy on a good day’s work last Sunday and he mentions the Mayo players had told them afterwards their preparations were scant. Cork’s work was just as limited, confined to their McGrath Cup games and some pitch work but mostly gym. But they dare not read too much into anything achieved this time of year.

“We’ve learned from the last two seasons that when we beat teams they don’t really mean much,” says Clancy.

“We just have to keep our feet on the ground, but it doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy these games and enjoy putting on the Cork jersey because we’re representing our families and our clubs. If we go out and enjoy ourselves a bit more it will show. The last two years we’ve done well in the league and then got hammered by Dublin (in the finals). We’re not just looking at the league for results but performances. We want to be more consistent.”

Cadogan also spoke last week of having to win back the trust of Cork supporters. Clancy knows it won’t be until a Munster final or All-Ireland quarter-final is won the healing can truly begin.

“It’s just about the positivity in the group now. Once we get a good championship performance under our belts we can look after ourselves but it’s just getting up that mountain as such.

“We can only get the supporters back on our side when it comes to the championship and we put in performances. Last year and the year before, we let ourselves down but, more importantly, we let them down as well and it’s a horrible feeling. We just want to right the wrongs because we know we have the potential and it all comes down to doing it on the pitch.”

Enjoyment as much as performance and consistency are the buzzwords Conor McCarthy appears to be preaching in the Cork camp. Clancy admits there wasn’t much fun last year when they had been written off prior to the Munster final. “We do feel there was pressure playing but we’re starting to enjoy our football and are starting to back ourselves more. I think it comes back to the whole mindset and getting back to basics and enjoying what we’re doing. You will get performances when you’re doing that.”

Depending on how you see it, Cork last year were a dubious penalty call/Fionn Fitzgerald hit-and-hoper away from a first Munster crown since 2012. But looking back, Clancy feels their motivation going into that game was wrong. “At the time, we didn’t think about it but looking back on it, it definitely was a factor. It was an emotional performance because we wanted to prove people wrong.

“It was draining and then it came to the replay and we were emotionally drained. That’s what we’re trying to get right this year – that there are no emotional performances.”

Having featured heavily in the team over the course of the league, the summer was no picnic for Clancy either. He featured as a sub in the provincial final replay and qualifier defeat to Kildare. His scant game-time in the championship was a letdown.

“Last year was a bit frustrating because I played a lot of the league but that’s the nature of the beast. When it comes to championship everyone is putting their hand up for selection and driving it on. I want to drive on this year and focus on what I’ve been doing wrong and improve as a player.”

Another goal in Ballyshannon tomorrow would do the 25-year-old just fine but only if it’s accompanied by a team showing that replicates what they did well against Mayo.

“Donegal are in the top four teams and we just want to challenge ourselves against them. It’s going to be a different game to the Mayo one and it’s just how we handle these situations that matters. We just want to get a consistent performance because we know they’re good and saw the score they put up (v Down) at the weekend.”