Never mind the quality, feel the Cork relief
4 June 2022; Brian Hurley of Cork is tackled by Daire Kelly, left, Sam Mulroy of Louth during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 1 match between Cork and Louth at Páirc Ui Chaoimh in Cork. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
Let’s park the putrid spectacle for a second. We’re in no rush to relive Louth’s “ultra-defensive” set-up or Cork’s middling attempts to find a way through the white wall, and so we’ll deal with all that further down.
First port of call is to recognise the importance of Cork keeping their season alive, irrespective of the unappealing manner in which they did so.
The four-point win represented just their third victory of the past six months and avoided the unwanted scenario of the 2022 class becoming the first Cork team in 19 years to exit the championship without recording a win.
While fully cognisant that this rebuilding project is a two to three-year endeavour, and equally aware of the key players Cork are operating without because of a dreadful injury run, neither in any way diminishes the absolute imperative for results in the short term.
How long a summer, autumn, and winter it would have been if Cork had signed off on 2022 with their last win being a relegation avoiding result against Offaly on March 27.
This project was yearning for any bit of momentum going. Saturday’s win provided just that, even if the dose was modest and might yet prove fleeting if the performance takes a step or two backwards in this weekend’s second round qualifier.
Interim Cork manager John Cleary, for one, was fully in tune with the value of putting a championship win in the locker.
“It was a tough winter for us,” Cleary began, “we lost four League games at the beginning, we lost a lot of players through injury, and we then lost our manager.
“We won our last two league games to keep us up and keep us in this competition; we went out against Kerry and gave it the best shot we could. Today is another step in our progression.
“There are a lot of lads who are new this year. We brought them into the panel with the view that they would be ready for next year, but they have had to be thrown in at the deep end. The likes of today and next week are all stepping stones and learning processes towards maybe getting up to Division 1 in two to three years' time and competing at the top table.”
Yes, there was learning in Saturday’s grind, but it is questionable what use it will be to Cork going forward for they’ll not meet as negative an approach as Louth’s again.
As noted elsewhere on this page, the visitors had each one of their outfield players behind the 45-metre line within 30 seconds of the throw-in. They also retreated en masse back inside their own half for each Cork kickout.
Sit and hold, was their one-trick modus operandi. And for the first 40 minutes, by which juncture the sides were level at 1-4 to 0-7, you can’t say Louth’s packed defence didn’t have the desired effect. But crucially, they were unable to sneak in front hereafter and force their opponents to chase scores.
Rushed and almost off the cuff attacking play is what Louth are set up to absorb and dismantle. Cork, to their credit, made sure such a scenario never developed.
Mind you, the Division 3 League champions very nearly hit the front on 49 minutes, Cork goalkeeper and championship debutant Chris Kelly producing a double save to deny John Clutterbuck and Ciarán Keenan.
Cork’s first goal didn’t arrive until the 66th minute, Brian Hurley - one of only three Cork scorers alongside Steven Sherlock and Colm O’Callaghan - finishing a sweeping move involving Seán Powter and sub Brian Hayes.
The green flag moved the hosts 1-11 to 1-5 in front, meaning it was Louth who now had to abandon their defensive straitjacket. In doing so, they troubled Cork far more in 10 minutes than they had done in the preceding hour-plus.
First-half goalscorer Liam Jackson, his namesake Tom, and Ciarán Downey kicked three points in swift succession to reduce the gap to one score.
A Colm O’Callaghan goal deep in injury time once again appeared to make certain of Cork’s progression, but Louth immediately hit back with a Conor Grimes major. In the end, it was Sherlock’s sixth free that eventually took Cork into the winners' enclosure.
The 3-5 kicked in the final 10 minutes was not even a third cousin of the laborious and lateral fare that had come before.
“There would have been fairly hard criticism if we went down the barrel of Louth's gun today and they'd have picked us off and beat us by a couple of points,” said Cleary. “The criticism then would be, why can't you cope with the mass defence. The very fact we were a couple of points ahead for the most part helped us in that we could be patient.
“The main thing is we got over the line.” Indeed, it is.
S Sherlock (0-8, 0-6 frees, 0-1 ‘45); B Hurley (1-4, 0-1 mark); C O’Callaghan (1-0).
L Jackson (1-1); S Mulroy (0-4, 0-4 frees); C Grimes (1-0); D Corcoran, C Downey, T Jackson (0-1 each).
C Kelly; S Powter, M Shanley, K O’Donovan; J Cooper, R Maguire, M Taylor; C O’Callaghan, I Maguire; J O’Rourke, E McSweeney, D Dineen; S Sherlock, B Hurley, C O’Mahony.
B Hayes for O’Mahony (HT); D Gore for O’Rourke (50); T Corkery for Powter (temporary, 68-71); C Kiely for Dineen (70); P Walsh for McSweeney (73); T Corkery for Powter (74).
J Califf; D McKenny, B Duffy, D Corcoran; C McKeever, N Sharkey, L Jackson; C Early, J Clutterbuck; C Lennon, S Mulroy, R Burns; D McConnon, C Downey, D Nally.
C Keenan for Burns (44); T Durnin for Early (45); L Grey for McKeever (62); C Grimes for Nally (65); T Jackson for Lennon (67).
F Kelly (Longford).
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
