John Cleary: 'It's not our priority. Two weeks' time is our priority'

Jimmy Lee was as effusive about the victory as Cleary was about the prospect of McGrath Cup silverware.

Mon, 12 Jan, 2026 - 06:19

Stephen Barry, Pairc Ui Rinn

McGrath Cup Group B round 3: Cork 0-15 (0-1-13) Limerick 3-11 (3-0-11)

John Cleary wasn’t getting too exercised about a pre-season defeat to Limerick nor the prospect of a McGrath Cup final against Kerry.

An experimental Cork side could afford anything up to a 15-point loss at Páirc Uí Rinn and still reach a seventh successive final appearance. That much was never in doubt as the Treaty only stretched out the final winning margin to five with James Naughton’s last-gasp goal to cap a 2-5 contribution.

“It's another game,” said Cleary. “It's not our priority. Two weeks' time is our priority.

“If fellas need a game next Saturday night, that's what we're going to do. We're not overly worried about winning the game or not.

“It'll be another competitive game, which are great preparation for going into the league.

“Any time you go to Kerry, it will be (a good test). But if we can come out with a clean bill of health and try to get game time into guys, our sole priority is this day two weeks against Cavan.”

Jimmy Lee was as effusive about the victory as Cleary was about the prospect of McGrath Cup silverware.

“A win is a win is a win,” said the Limerick manager. “There were tough conditions out there. It was shocking at times. Hard to play football. At the same time, I'd be happier with the second half than I was with the first half.”

With his Sigerson Cup cohort available, Cleary made 13 changes from Cork’s midweek victory over Tipperary and handed out 12 debuts across the hour.

In from the start were Nemo Rangers full-back Colin Molloy, Castlehaven centre-back Tomás O’Mahony, midfielders Seán Dore of Ballincollig and Tom Cunningham of Kilshannig, Clonakilty centre-forward Conor Daly, and Carbery Rangers corner-forward Ciarán Santry.

“We threw a lot of guys in that hadn't seen this level of football before. For a lot of it, we were quite good, quite competitive,” said Cleary.

“It's not easy to do this when the league starts. We had told them when they came in doing a bit of training with us that they would get game time in the McGrath Cup.

“Some of those guys are probably not ready this year. But as I said to them inside, they can go back to their clubs or go back to their colleges and this time next year, be ready. They know what's involved in it now. They're the next generation and a lot of them will play a lot of times for Cork in the future.”

Such was the gloom amid wind and rain at Páirc Uí Rinn, the floodlights were called upon before 3pm as the second half reached its midway point. The conditions also saw Cork change from white jerseys in the first half to red after the break.

The swirling breeze didn’t grant a massive benefit to either side as each dropped four shots short in the first half. Those moments would prove particularly punitive for Cork as Limerick countered to score 1-2 off such misses.

Conall Ó Duinn was the Treaty’s star man until his half-time withdrawal, kicking two points and creating two goal chances. For the sixth-minute breakthrough, the Monaleen wing-back’s backdoor cut was picked out by Killian Ryan before squaring for Jack McCarthy to palm home.

Naughton tallied four goal chances across the hour. He was twice denied in the first half. One long-range shot towards an empty net was blocked by Jacob O’Driscoll after Darragh Newman was caught up in contesting the opposition kick-out. The Cork keeper then advanced to save from Naughton before the break.

Cork had more of the play in the first half with three points from Daly (two from play) and three more from David Buckley, including a two-point free after a 4v3 breach. They led 0-8 to 1-4 at half-time.

Wing-back Darragh Cashman advanced for three early points upon the resumption, but Cork had no other scorer in that third quarter. Limerick exploited the wind to pen Cork in and retook the lead through a pair of Naughton frees.

Seán Walsh landed a booming point to cut the deficit to one, but Limerick had their second goal within a minute. From Ryan’s advanced turnover, Neville’s speed created the overlap for Naughton to fire off the far post and into the net.

Cork cancelled that out with two Daly frees and a debut point from substitute Paddy O’Driscoll.

Limerick made their win safe at the death with a Naughton free, advanced 50 metres for delaying a solo-and-go, followed by a last-gasp goal, teed up by Neville.

Scorers for Cork: C Daly 0-5 (3 frees); D Cashman, D Buckley (1 free, 1 tpf) (0-3 each); S Dore, L Murphy, P O’Driscoll, S Walsh (0-1 each).

Scorers for Limerick: J Naughton 2-5 (0-5 frees); J McCarthy 1-0; C Ó Duinn, R Childs (0-2 each); D Neville, J Mahon (0-1 each).

CORK: D Newman; S Meehan, C Molloy, J O’Driscoll; K O’Donovan (capt), T O’Mahony, D Cashman; S Dore, T Cunningham; F Fenner, C Daly, D Buckley; D O’Connor, L Murphy, C Santry.

Subs: C O’Shea for O’Mahony (h-t), S Walsh for Buckley (h-t), C Gillespie for Fenner (h-t), P O’Driscoll for O’Donovan (42), K O’Reilly for Santry (42), L Casey for Murphy (49), C Dungan for Newman (53), C Hyland for Meehan (53), S Copps for Molloy (53).

LIMERICK: J Alfred; O Collins, D Buckley, M McCarthy; C Ó Duinn, K Ryan, T McCarthy; J McCarthy, B Coleman (capt); R O’Brien, D Neville, E Riordan; J Mahon, R Childs, J Naughton.

Subs: J Hassett for Collins (h-t), C McSweeney for Ó Duinn (h-t), P Maher for Riordan (h-t), S Quigley for Coleman (43), S Cross for Childs (43), L Woulfe for O’Brien (53), S Kilbridge for Woulfe (57, inj).

Referee: E Morrissey (Waterford).