Cork on guard ahead of tough Pearse Park mission

A fortress? Hardly. Still, enough teams have left Pearse Park over the years with their summer in ruins to have the Cork footballers forewarned for their meeting with Longford this afternoon.

Just ask the Down class of 2002, the Derry teams of 2006 and ‘12, or, indeed, Pearse Park’s most famous victims – Mayo’s 2010 crop; Paul Kelly’s galvanising goal, Keith Higgins’ sending off and John O’Mahony’s resignation the various sub-plots in a never to be forgotten June evening in Longford town.

And then there were the close shaves, the near-misses; the 2006 Leinster championship quarter-final against Dublin (1-12 to 0-13), the 2009 second round qualifier against Kerry (1-12 to 0-11) or the visit of Tyrone (0-17 to 0-15) two years later at the same stage.