Eamonn Ryan reveals ‘fierce admiration’ for Cork players

Cork selector Eamonn Ryan has revealed his admiration for a group of footballers who have been consistently “hammered” by the public throughout the past year.

Reflecting on his first three months involved with the Cork footballers, Ryan described the squad as “fierce genuine” and “as committed a group as you would get”.

“I think they can perform better than they are performing, but I mean you couldn’t fault them for effort,” Ryan said after yesterday’s victory over Down.

“The time they put in, the commitment they give; I can’t think of one player I’d have doubts about with regards input and commitment, which is a fairly rare thing in a panel. You would always get one or two that would be swinging the lead, these guys are very committed.

“I would have fierce admiration for them. They were hammered last year in the media, really, and by the public. They were hammered again after the Roscommon match. Still, they come back. They were training the next night and they put it in.”

Having fallen away when starting slowly in the defeats to Donegal and Roscommon, Ryan was pleased by the manner in which Cork forced their way back into this contest midway through the first-half.

“Today was good as we had to grind it out. Just after half-time, we had the sense to tack on a few points. It was disappointing then that we sat back. Now maybe that was down to Down, but I would say we sat back and allowed them into it. That was probably the downside to it.”

He added: “If we had performed brilliantly today, you might feel under more pressure heading to Tralee. We’ve nothing to lose going to Tralee. I am looking forward to Tralee.”

Down manager Eamonn Burns, meanwhile, pointed to Cork’s scoring burst early in the second period as the crucial spell in condemning the visitors to Division 2 football next spring.

“Cork kicked some fine scores in that period and they were the defining moments. That gave them a bit of a cushion and they never really relinquished that.

“We’re disappointed in so far as we would have liked to stay in the top flight and develop the team there. You need a wee bit of momentum and you need to be winning games to stay in the top division. We were very positive coming here and we thought we could get a result to give us a chance. That didn’t happen.”