Cleary daring to dream ahead of Cork's mission improbable

Cork interim manager John Cleary before the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 2 match between between Cork and Limerick at Páirc Ui Chaoimh in Cork. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-final against Dublin will tell Cork what stage of progression they are at.

That’s according to interim Cork manager John Cleary who says 70 minutes in the company of the game’s standard-bearers will inform this new-look Cork group of the level they have got to and how much further they still must travel to return the county to football’s top-table after almost a decade away.

This weekend’s last-eight fixture represents the first championship meeting between the counties since the Super 8s game Dublin won with 13 to spare three year ago. But a quick scan of the starting Cork team from that 2019 fixture shows just three players — Mattie Taylor, Ian Maguire, and Brian Hurley — who featured in the qualifier win over Limerick a fortnight ago.

Further evidence of how the 2022 class bears minimal resemblance to the teams put out during Ronan McCarthy’s four years at the helm is the fact that 12 of the 20 players who saw game-time during the aforementioned Limerick victory have never played senior championship at GAA HQ, while nine of that group were not involved in any of the three Super 8 games in 2019.

Cleary, and Keith Ricken before him, have repeatedly emphasised that the rebuilding job started last winter — when a flood of newcomers were added to the panel and a handful of experienced personnel shown the door — is a long-term project stretching out beyond one or two seasons.

Progress reports, though, are a necessity along the way to measure the work done, and Cleary is in no doubt that Dublin will shine a light on just where this Cork team are at in their journey.

“What we are trying to do is get up along the line and see if we can get up to where Dublin have brought the game to. Dublin, when they started, it took them a good amount of time to do that. We will see on Saturday what stage of progression we are at and what level we have got to,” said the interim Cork boss.

“Hopefully, it will be a great experience for the lads that haven't played at Croke Park before. Hopefully, they’ll embrace it. You’ve got to start somewhere.

“A lot of these guys have been at a stage where they hadn’t been before this year, and they've coped well with it. We just hope the same thing will happen now on Saturday evening.” 

Given the 'favourable' draws received in Rounds 1 and 2 of the qualifiers when pulled out to play Louth and Limerick, it was somewhat inevitable that Cork’s Monday morning luck would run out at some point.

“Of the three teams we could have drawn (Derry, Dublin, or Galway), it was probably the toughest one. Initial reaction was a tough draw, but you know what, bring it on, let's get at it, and see where it takes us.

“Where I am sitting now, the only thing we are looking at is trying to win the game on Saturday. If we put in a top-class performance, I think the result looks after itself. We want to go up there and try and win the game. Nothing else is in our interest at this stage.

“We'll see whether the two victories we have had the past few weeks have brought us on as a group and whether we can put up a formidable challenge to them. I do definitely think the group’s confidence has improved as a result of getting two championship wins under the belt.” 

Cleary said management have not yet reached a decision as to whether they will include the returning Seán Meehan and Killian O’Hanlon in the matchday 26 for the county’s first football trip to Croke Park in three years.

Joint-captain Meehan, who underwent surgery on his hamstring in March, has not worn the red shirt since the evening of Cork’s League defeat at home to Galway in late February. As for midfielder O’Hanlon, he last played for Cork in the 2020 Munster final defeat to Tipperary.

“They are back in training, but against that, they haven't played in a long time. At this stage of the championship, match fitness would be a big thing.”