Paul Kerrigan: After a beating like that, you question everything

The Cork footballers have often found praise hard to come by.

When they’re winning, they should be winning more – ‘only’ winning one All-Ireland in the successful period at the end of the 2000s and early 2010s was deemed a failure in some quarters – while the fallow periods are judged even more harshly.

Last Sunday was something else entirely, though. It’s entirely possible the 4-25 to 3-10 loss to Roscommon in Páirc Uí Rinn was the county’s biggest senior football loss since the 20-point reversal against Kerry in the 1938 Munster final. Having trailed by nine points at half-time, Cork ‘lost’ the first 20 minutes of the second-half by 2-8 to 1-0. Little wonder then, captain Paul Kerrigan wasn’t in the mood for much interaction in the immediate aftermath, while acknowledging any criticism was justified in the wake of an “unacceptable” display.