'I'd have taken a point this morning', says Pat Ryan as focus turns to Tipp

The Rebels got out of Ennis with a point after an epic. 

SATISFIED: Cork manager Pat Ryan. Pic: INPHO/Tom Maher

Cork manager Pat Ryan extolled the positives of this rollercoasting draw in Ennis, insisting “I’d have taken a point this morning”.

As much as Cork were 12 points to the good at half-time and remained eight up until the 68th minute despite losing Shane Barrett to a red card, in Cork’s two previous Munster first round games in his charge they had come away with nothing.

“I thought we showed a great battle to get back into the game. The game looked to be gone away from us. Obviously, we were seven, eight, nine points up. I thought we did well, even after Shane's sending off, we held it.

“But look, these are the All-Ireland champions at home. I'd have taken a point this morning. This isn't a sprint Munster championship, this is a marathon. Do you know what I mean? We've one point after today, we're back to Tipperary next week and that's our focus. We park this game and move on to Tipperary.” 

Ryan felt Cork had been “set up” for a fall ahead of this re-run of last year’s All-Ireland final. “You're not going to hold a team as good as Clare if you've only 14 men. They were always going to come at us, they've brilliant players. They're All-Ireland champions for a reason, they've great pride. We were probably set up a small bit coming up here and we knew what we were going to get.” 

He acknowledged Cork required a reset after this encounter but pointed out that nobody inside the set-up or county were guilty of complacency. “I think most of the people getting carried away are outside Cork, to be honest with you. We know exactly where we are. Clare are the All-Ireland champions, you saw the team that Limerick are putting out today and that type of thing.” 

Complimenting how Cork stuck it out for a point, Ryan continued: “In fairness to our men, they showed a bit of bottle to get the ball. We won the ball, won a great free. And look, we managed to get a draw out of it.

“And look, as I said, I'd have taken that this morning coming up here. There was an awful lot of chatter about this Clare team and what was going to happen and Cork were going well and all that. But to me, we weren't under no illusions coming up to what we were going to face here today.” Ryan confirmed he spoke with referee Liam Gordon after the final whistle to ascertain why Barrett was sent off. A decision on whether they will contest the decision will be made in the coming couple of days.

“Obviously, Shane is by no means a dirty player so I don't know why we're down there. But from our point of view, it's a disappointment that we got involved in any situation like that. You have to keep your discipline above here.” 

Ryan admitted that the management took a risk with playing Rob Downey into the second half as he was carrying a knee injury. 

“They got a brilliant start after half-time, Rob was carrying a bit of an injury, maybe a bit of our fault. Obviously, he's our captain and he was struggling a small bit. They just got in for two goals in that situation.

“I thought we shored up after that. They got back into the game, they got back to six, we went back up to nine points. But look, they're All-Ireland champions for a reason. Brian [Lohan] is in charge of this team for 5-6 years. They're never going to go away with this crowd that they have here as well.”