John Cleary: 'Playing here at home and seeing the crowd, Cork football is crying out for that'

CRYING OUT FOR: Cork players Brian Hurley, left, and Sean Powter celebrate after the All-Ireland SFC match against Donegal at Páirc Uí Rinn. Pic: Matt Browne/Sportsfile

The performance, the goals, the result, the pitch invasion. Cork football was “crying out” for it all.

Manager John Cleary said post-match that his team had been steadily climbing the ladder in 2024. Only one defeat from their last seven outings. But he wondered if unbeaten Donegal was a step his charges might struggle to ascend to. After all, they were playing, by his own admission, the “best team in the country”.

They made the step and so the home support in the crowd of 7,251 hurtled down the stand and terrace steps at full-time for a rare pitch invasion where Cork football is concerned.

“Particularly playing here at home and seeing the crowd, Cork football is crying out for that,” Cleary began.

“This group are putting in a savage effort. We've been kind of slowly climbing the ladder so it was a case of would today be a step too far? But I thought we played outstandingly well at times.

“It looked like we might leave it behind, but thankfully we got two turnovers at the end to kick two great points to get us over the line.” 

Turnovers were Cork’s oxygen on a sweltering afternoon. If Cork weren't stripping the Ulster champions, Donegal spilled or cheaply coughed up possession.

For Cork’s opening goal, Seán Powter ripped and robbed Ryan McHugh. The pair at the beginning of the second period were from Donegal point attempts dropped short.

“Our lads got some great turnovers,” the Cork boss continued.

“I knew that we'd have a big performance today because the lads felt that this is our home game and this is Páirc Uí Rinn. Donegal were coming down, the best team in the country at the moment, a beautiful hot day and a big crowd, I think our lads really went for it when they saw that.

“Look, Donegal are a top-class side. The way they loop, come in from the side and take their scores with ease, they probably got their scores a lot easier than we did. But we had a plan to try and stop that. At times it worked and we got great turnovers.

“We knew that when Donegal kick out the ball, they don't gave it away easily. We felt that if they came into the scoring area, we had to be really at them because they were going to get scores all day long. They did at times and we couldn't get at them. But some of our turnovers, even the last one there when the pressure was on, were outstanding.

“When we hit them on the break, the goals were big, big bonuses and it gave us something to cling on to. It looked in the last five minutes like we were scrambling for a draw at best. But in fairness to the lads, they showed savage energy to get up and kick the last two points.” 

If Cork inflicting a first competitive defeat of Jim McGuinness’ second coming stands as a scalp, replicating the result against Tryone in a fortnight sees scalp-taking morph into consistency. Consistency when standing opposite Division 1 sides.

“We needed it, there is a feel-good factor, but you can be damn full sure that will stop this evening. This morning, we could have lost to Donegal and beat Tyrone and we had a home preliminary quarter-final. If it flips the other way, it makes thing a lot more difficult. We could end up in Derry or Galway or Mayo.

“Look, it's great and it's to be enjoyed but it's back to brass tacks now and preparing for Tyrone. I'm sure the lads will come in with a pep in their step but it's our job now to get them back on solid ground because we want to try and see how far we can go.

“At different times we've tested the Kerrys and the Dublins, but then we've let ourselves down at other times. Consistency is what we're looking for. We always want to see if we can put three or four performances together.

“I think that's eight matches now and one defeat, to Kerry, so we're beginning to build a bit of momentum. We'd love to see if we can go on a bit further. Making Croke Park again this year is definitely one aim for us.

“We'll dust ourselves down because Tyrone is a big game. If we don't win that, we could be into a preliminary quarter-final the following week and things can get more difficult then. It's still all to play for but we'll definitely take confidence from getting a victory today and hopefully we can drive on over the next couple of weeks.”