Steven Sherlock makes case for starting spot with crucial cameo against Mayo

The Cork star played a key role off the bench in the win in Limerick.

ON THE LINE: Tommy Conroy of Mayo shoots to score his side's first goal despite the efforts of the Cork defence at TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick.

Steven Sherlock wasn’t going to tell us a lie. He wasn’t going to tell us that he’s content coming in off the bench Sunday after Sunday. He wants to start. He wants to be stood inside the whitewash and not sat on a cushioned seat when the first whistle sounds.

Sherlock started six of Cork’s seven league outings. He top-scored with 0-32.

He started their championship opener against Clare. He was only one of two forwards to score that afternoon. He hasn’t started since.

Off the bench against Louth, he supplied one white flag. Off the bench against Kerry, he doubled that tally. Off the bench against Mayo, he dragged Cork back from the abyss and dragged them ahead of Mayo in the group standings to secure a home preliminary quarter-final.

Sherlock’s first meaningful involvement was a point on 55 minutes. It cut the gap to two. But a subsequent Mayo 1-1 had the westerners pretty much out the gap.

Not quite, said Cork and Sherlock.

He converted a 57th-minute penalty and then kicked a three-in-a-row of points over the ensuing seven minutes to tie matters at 1-11 apiece.

When Kevin O’Donovan’s fisted point attempt was deflected out for a ‘45 on 66 minutes, who was it but Sherlock again who held his nerve to return Cork in front for the first time since the interval. It completed an uninterrupted 1-4 sequence from the game-winning substitute.

There’s little more he can do to force his way back onto the first 15.

“I'll take that I suppose,” he said of his 1-5 bench impact.

“Look, you'd be itching to get on, you'd be itching to play from the start and everything like that. But look, my job as a forward is to score and I did that when I came on.

“I'm 26 years of age now, I'm around a bit on the senior panel and I know how it works. Even since the Louth game, even since the Kerry game, I'm itching to play. I'm in good form. I knew full well when I got on, I was going to go for the jugular and thankfully it came off.” 

For the collective, this was an afternoon of real growth and development. Manager John Cleary has repeatedly talked about closing the gap to the big-hitters ahead of them. Here, they took one of them out.

“I don't think we've actually beaten a big team like that in championship in a long time,” Sherlock continued.

“The way we did it, the way we came back, it's going to give great confidence to the team. As I said, we're only out of the group stages now. There's no point putting in a good performance against Kerry, a good performance against Mayo and kind of falling asunder for the next two weeks, so we'll power on again.” 

They’ll attempt to power on at home.

“Hopefully we'll get a big crowd down to support us. When we were starting to come back there, the crowd really gives you a big, big lift and hopefully we can carry that through now down to next week in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. I'd love to see a big Cork support down there.

“Last week against Kerry, it gave us a big lift. Today gave us a big lift, so please God we get a big crowd.” 

Coach Kevin Walsh was another Sherlock had praise for. The character shown in the final quarter to overhaul a six-point deficit against the League champions has its roots in the training ground.

“That's the one thing we always talk about, and especially when Kevin Walsh came in, to be competing towards the very end of games. It was a great response.

“In fairness, Kevin is a fantastic coach. He's one of the best I ever had and he's drilling stuff into us, and the lads are listening. Training has been very enjoyable. We'll keep it going for as long as we can.”