With now-lightened shoulders, Cleary and Cork braced for 'form team' Donegal

RENEWED ACQUAINTANCES: Brian O'Driscoll of Cork in action against Odhran Doherty of Donegal. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

A Ballybofey refresher. Or partial refresher, even.

The footage of Cork’s chastening league opener away to this weekend’s opponents that we managed to get our hands on is missing the final 18 minutes of the opening half. Just as well. 

The figures and fumbles pulled from the first, third, and fourth quarter were ugly enough without adding a period where the visitors were outgunned 0-8 to 0-3.

In the opening quarter, Donegal’s four white flags were an even split of Cork turnovers and lost Cork kickouts. It was a first quarter where Cork managed a solitary score.

Into the second period and Cork coughed up possession 15 times. Five of Donegal’s eight second-half points were mined from this gifted source.

1-20 to 2-6 was the final score. 

It stands, arguably, as one of the two worst displays of the John Cleary reign, the other being their Munster quarter-final defeat to Clare last year.

The Cork manager has his own recall of the reality check unforgivingly served to them on the League's opening weekend.

“Donegal had 12 shots in the first half and got 11 scores. In some scenarios, we were letting them shoot because maybe we didn’t believe they would put them over from 50 yards. That’s the big thing that we will take into the next day, we will have to push out on them.” 

Their respective graphs stayed moving in different directions coming out of Ballybofey last January. 

Donegal went unbeaten through the spring, sealed their promotion back to the top-flight with a round to spare, edged Armagh in the Division 2 decider, and then edged the same opposition six weeks later in the Ulster decider.

From 12 played in 2024, the return record of Jim McGuinness and Co. is 11 wins and one draw.

You could say that Cork were the first to get a glimpse of what was coming, even if they weren’t at all thankful for the preview showing on a most miserable January afternoon.

Cork manager John Cleary after the game. Pic: Ben Brady, Inpho

“We’ve seen far out really that Donegal are a very formidable team,” Cleary continues.

“That day they beat us by 11 points, so we got the first pasting from them really. Even since then, they went to Derry, beat Derry, beat Tyrone after extra-time, beat Armagh after extra-time, and the last day (against Tyrone) they put in probably the best performance of any team this year.

“They have taken down all the big guns, taken down Tyrone twice. Derry were everyone’s favourite to upset Dublin or Kerry and they conceded four goals against Donegal. They really took them apart. At this moment in time, they are definitely the form team in the country.

“We’re well warned but hopefully we’re ready for it and we’ve prepared accordingly. We knew from the last few weeks that it was the Ulster champions we’d have as our home game. We’ve been preparing for this, and we intend putting our best foot forward on Saturday.” 

Cork will attempt to put their best foot forward unburdened by pressure. This fixture and the result at the end of it will not define their season. The victory in Ennis a fortnight ago made sure of that.

Cork welcome Donegal with lightened shoulders, the very same as they did Kerry in Round 2 this Bank Holiday weekend last year. And while the hosts did not take any points off the neighbours, they lost nothing in living with the then-champions for the distance. Two weeks later, they went and stunned Mayo.

There’s the same feel about the next fortnight, that if Cork can hold onto Donegal and the momentum brought home from Clare it can build into a Round 3 where points are harvested.

“In our last seven games, we've only been beaten in one, and that was by Kerry. But we do realise that Donegal are back in Division 1 now and Tyrone are a Division 1 team as well.

“If we were facing into the next two weeks trying to scramble for points, it brings on its own bit of pressure. The very fact that we have the two points in the bag gives us a small bit of freedom to play without that pressure. We have two cuts at it now over the next couple of weeks.

“Where we're standing at the moment, we want to top the group. Secondly, the other prize on offer is to have a home preliminary quarter-final. That would be much, much harder if we were here now with no points. We have to be pleased about that going into the weekend.”