Ronan McCarthy says new plan ‘a step in the right direction’

Ronan McCarthy has described the Cork 2024 five-year plan, published last week, as “a step in the right direction” for football in the county.

The Cork boss welcomed the targets set out within the 42-page blueprint, but added that his focus is very much on the present.

“The plan looks at the medium and long-term, but we also have to look at the short-term.

“Some of the appointments that are coming will have a more immediate effect when they are in place. It is a step in the right direction. Implementation is key and that people keep working and pushing in the right direction.”

While disappointed with Saturday’s defeat in Miltown-Malbay, McCarthy was pleased with certain elements of their display, particularly the six-minute spell in the second-half when the Rebels landed five scores without reply to draw level.

“It was what we probably expected coming up; heavy pitch, a good team. I thought our guys responded well when falling behind, we were 1-5 to 0-3 down 10 minutes into the second-half. We lifted our game, drove at them and got ourselves back into the match but we just never got ahead. And we made a few basic elementary mistakes with new and inexperienced players.

At half-time, we tried to get them to take the game to Clare and to take the man on in front of them and certainly, Clare were uncomfortable when we did that. There were a couple of shots which dropped short and into the keeper’s hands, a lapse pass that went astray. We made some poor decisions at the back when the game was in the mix near the end.

McCarthy added: “We’re disappointed to lose but it was a good and worthwhile exercise.”

The Cork manager believes the McGrath Cup was useful to his charges ahead of their league opener away to Fermanagh in a fortnight.

“We tried to give everybody a start that was available to us and we’ve managed that over the two games. What we have is what we have. There are very good players there, very talented players, and they are working very hard.”