Cork footballers need confidence boost

Derry v Cork: How dramatically the Cork football landscape has changed since their last visit to Derry, how sharply their graph has fallen.

On the first Sunday of April in 2015, Brian Cuthbert brought a Cork team to Owenbeg already guaranteed a place in the knockout stages of Division 1. Victory over Mayo in round six the previous weekend had secured a place in the semi-finals and management made seven changes for what was effectively a dead rubber tie which they lost 2-15 to 1-11. It didn’t matter.

Tomorrow’s fixture at Celtic Park matters. It matters hugely. Cork, despite managing just one win from their opening five games, are still in control of their destiny. And they’ll want to keep it that way ahead of Down’s visit next weekend.